Swan Song
by MagicalGirl23
Summary: Edward left Bella in New Moon. Somehow she became a vampire. Twenty years later, she has a new unlife as an international J-rock superstar. With the proposal of her new love, Gackt her happiness seems complete. Only Edward finds out, and wants to stop it.
1. The Concert

**_Hi! First off, I just wanted to say if all this seems a little familiar. It should. This story started out as the brilliant brainchild of Pixel Alice and Tic-tac101, originally called by the title "Life of Rock." I liked the story and was really sad when I heard they weren't going to continue it. But Pixel Alice was totally nice enough to let me pick up the torch on this plot, and allowed me to continue it. So, I edited it and fleshed it out just with more detail. Now this is just a trial run to see if people (and most importantly Pixel Alice) like how I re-did this. I tried to keep it as close to the original plot as possible and only really changed the title, so again I say it's only temporary unless Pixel Alice says otherwise. Until that time, I hope you all will read this and indulge me with a review. I accept_ 'constrictive' _critisims and flamers will be ignored. Thank you and on with the fic:)!!_**

* * *

"Gackt, stop it! We're going on in a few minutes..." I hissed trying in vain to sound firm, but it came out rather as more of a hushed giggle. As our entire entourage/staff was scurrying to and fro just outside the door of our shared dressing room, in the united and frantic attempt to make this monumental evening a success.

Which as far as I was concerned, didn't need anything more than two people here in this room.

"I love you, you know?" He whispered seductively into my ear, making my spine shiver deliciously in response. I loved how he could do that to me.

Now I had always had a fair tone, even before the 'change' took place. None the less, while you could never exactly compare my skin to the Medieval romantics definition of 'lilies and roses'. Even under layers of artfully applied makeup the resulting blush must have looked remarkably more like a sunburned tomato on my skin, even as a vampire some things never change.

"I know, I love you too." I whispered, giving his Armani coat a quick, gentle tug towards me. I met with no resistance as soft, pliable lips met mine and we sank into a familiar world of our own, away from stark reality, from worries, and most importantly memories of _HIM_. Ugh!

However, a loud knock on the door interrupted out reverie. "Gackt? Bella? We need you two on stage in five..." Kaito Keto, our perpetually high-strung manager, not to mention, errand boy, babysitter, valet, goose-chaser (Don't ask. We vamps were bored and wanted to play 'Mess with the gullible human,' so sue us.) All in all, our unsung hero, figuratively speaking, of course. One of the few humans I both knew, trusted, was worth his weight in gold. And whose head is endlessly fun to mess with. I could just see him then, his head swiveling around like some demented bird making sure no one could see him embarrassing himself. As he crouched behind the safety of his ever present clipboard for what came next, we could practically hear the blush as he whispered, _"...preferably unmussed and _**fully** **clothed**_."_

Poor dude, you have one rowdy night in Paris, and you don't live it down for the rest of the decade. It wasn't the first time either (snicker). In our defense, it was the _Moulin Rogue_ after all, the place practically screams _rebel_.

Reluctantly, I unwrapped my arms from around his neck. I heard my love give somewhere between a low groan and a sigh deep within his throat. But not before I gave a feather light ghost over his hard stone chest in admiration, our eyes met and I shared a sly wink that captured my lover's interest. I leaned up to the door.

"Aww and we were just about to get to the good part too." I mock lamented in a pitiful drawl that had once worked on my dad to perfection and had been in refinement for the last few years. We heard flustered sputtering on the other side in response and shared a toothy grin. As I said, way too easy.

I decided to cut the poor guy a break anyway; he had enough on his plate tonight, calling back quietly. "It's alright Keto-sama, we're in the same mint condition that the stylists and make-up people left us in two hours ago. (How we did that I'll never know?!) We'll be out in time, I promise."

Hearing an almost breathless sigh of air being exhaled in sheer relief, and other -more sensitive- senses picked up his heart and pulse going back to a not-so-close heart attack level. Just barely catching his receding footsteps and uttering curses about 'being the death of him' and other such stuff. I made a mental note to be nicer to him for the next year or two, after all what was a few to me?

Suddenly, I was pulled back into the loving embrace of my current lover. His bright blue eyes shining down at me with nothing but love in them, and a tinge of...melancholy?

But the answer came quick. "Why do we do this Bella? I hate having to sing and perform with anyone other than you." He sighed regretfully into my hair. I couldn't help but smile, he was my angel. Gackt picked me up when I was broken and brought me back to life, no pun intended. He was my new love, my only love. Nothing could ever tear us apart. And we would stay together for eternity.

"Alright, let's get this over with." Gackt quickly kissed my forehead, I giggled. (Ah, the pleasures of being eternally eighteen.) As we walked hand in hand towards the familiar sights and sounds, of a stadium full of light, music and thousands of screaming fans.

* * *

**Meanwhile in Washington...**

Where a typical American evening was taking place, as a young man sat in front of the TV flipping relentlessly through the channels. Which despite paying out the wazoo for the pleasure of a dish equipped with several hundred of them, still could find nothing good on. Needless to say by that time it was safe to assume Emmett Cullen was monumentally bored.

"There's nothing to watch!" He whined piteously like a five year old. Which was interesting considering how old he actually was.

"Then read a book, listen to a CD, make a cake just do _something_!" A very cranky voice grumped from the direction of the floor. Edward Cullen his 'older brother' so to speak and the voice's owner. Then rising up from his comfortable spot behind the couch, surrounded by reading materials of his own he removed the earphones of his old CD player. Which he had donned in order to spare his sensitive hearing the brunt of Emmet's caterwauling, glaring at his 'little brother' like any annoyed older sibling naturally would.

Emmet in turn, glared right back at Edward his topaz eyes smoldering indignantly. "Fine, I will then." He huffed, turning back to the TV proceeding to resume his former activity, flipping through each and every channel.

Edward had just settled back down into his book when Emmett's voice was raised once again.

"Alright, a live concert from..._Tokyo?!_ I didn't know this thing got that kind of range. Aw, who cares I might not be able to understand what they're saying, but heck these guys are _really_ good." Emmett said in happy satisfaction.

He rolled his eyes and was just about to put the headphones back on, before he heard another voice come into the room.

"I agree. I know that a camera adds ten pound and all, but I could swear at this angle." Rosalie said entering the room nonchalantly stepping over Edward's prone legs and tilting her head at the screen. "That girl looks a lot like Bel- I mean someone we used to know."

"That covers a lot of ground, metaphorically and literally." Said Emmett matter-of-factly.

Only to be joined by a third voice, "Really?! I have to see this." This time it to Alice who came rushing in to see what the big commotion was amongst her 'siblings'. "Oh my goodness, you're right Rose! She does indeed!"

"I bet it's your imagination. She's dead remember, has been for years." Edward said, feeling a slight twinge of both guilt and regret in the depths of the heart that had long sense ceased to beat. An old echo of one he once loved, which from time to time still whispered out a single, solitary word that seemed to cry throughout his entire being..._Bella_.

_"And that was tonight's guest stars singing their latest Number One hit, our own Camui Gackt and the beautiful, multitalented Isabella Schwannsee. Next by popular request is the hit song Ryuusie, sung solo by Bella herself. " _Boomed the some Japanese suited announcer/show host in their native language into a microphone whilst standing on a red carpet in front of some huge stadium a world away. The translation coming in the form of subtitles at the bottom of the screen courtesy of the network.

"Oh my GOD, Rosalie, Alice, Edward!! Did you see that? That girl's name is Bella! Maybe it's her...except this one has highlights and wears _way _too much black." Emmett chattered excitedly, jumping up and down on the soft cushions.

Edward leaped sharply to his feet, taking a long hard look at couple on the screen. In particular, the young woman dressed in the what appeared to be the style called Elegant Gothic Aristocrat, that he'd read in one of his sister's fashion magazines had become popular in America in the last few years. He scrutinized even closer as the camera zoomed in onto the youthful face with its expertly applied makeup. She seemed to have stepped out of his childhood of centuries before with her ribbons, lace and even pseudo bustle-hoopskirt on her mock Victorian gown. As she raised the microphone to her lips, the lights dimmed and her kohl-rimmed eyes opened time seemed to stop for an instant looking straight at him across time, space and the years. Like she was just across the room, rather than across the ocean. If he was capable of dying of shock, he would have because he would have known that face anywhere. Not just because it had haunted his dreams all the time, everyday for the last twenty years.

It was true, it was HIS Bella.

* * *

It was my turn to sing a song solo. Even though I knew that Gackt wouldn't go to far from me. It was a long standing joke in the Japanese music industry, look for one and you will find the other not more than a few feet away. Even on stage. He and I really were joined at the hip so it seemed, it had been like that from almost down to the very hour that he had found me in that craphole where I'd ended up in L.A.. A lonely mortal and a newly formed fledgling vampire, what a pair we made. Even though it was years ago, a part of me still hurts to remember.

Funny, a vampire with 'abandonment issues,' I would laugh at the irony if it wasn't so painful. Just one of many in my life the past couple of decades.

Anyway point of the story; we simply just don't like to be apart. Outings, photo shoots, in the studio, dates and society functions and of course, concerts. How don't we get on each other's nerves? I don't have the foggiest idea. But it definitely helps being a rock star and all; I get to be around my muse all day long and vice versa, as Gackt is ever fond of telling me. Not that I mind, because what I intended to sing I had written and dedicated with Gackt in mind, it was one of my favorites. But before I did sing, I wanted to show to the world just how much he meant to me.

"Before I start this next song, I want to thank Gackt for picking me up when I was down and broken." I said into the mike towards the vast cheering crowd before me.

"You're welcome." He said from behind me, his normally low and gentle voice made loud from his own microphone. "And Bella, I want to ask you something."

"Yes?" I was cut with a gasp of surprise; I wouldn't figure out until later that it had been my own. As he came around in front of me and got on one knee in front of the crowd. Was he going to do what I think he was going too?

"Bella?" He questioned concerned as he took both of my hands in his own. Oh my gosh, if I could faint on the spot, it would definitely be now. Was he about to propose to me, of all people?! Oh my God!!

* * *

Back in the States, Edward was still frantically reading the subtitles, just not believing what he was seeing. The motions on the TV seemed like a pantomime to him, making him live out his worst nightmare in front of his very eyes. Some freak was about to propose to Bella. HIS Bella. Was he mental or something?

He grabbed the TV and put his face towards the screen, it was taking all his power not to break the stupid hunk of metal in his intense anger. Ignoring the protests and outright dumbfounded stares of his family, he shook it yelling.

"SAY NO! SAY NO!!"

* * *

"Bella, will you do me the great honor of becoming my wife?" Gackt said gently taking out a velvet box from his coat pocket, opening it to reveal one of the most beautiful rings I'd ever seen.

Again I digress, OH MY GOD!! I couldn't believe what I was hearing, that it was actually happening to me. The one thing I had wanted but had thought would never come since the 'incident'. I immediately threw myself at him with such immense joy (and a touch of unchecked vampiric strength) that we were knocked over crying out in my intense happiness, "Yes! Yes I will!"

He took the ring and placed it on my finger, it fit so perfectly. He lifted my chin up and placing a tender, yet passionate kiss on my ruby red lips. The crowd went absolutely wild with cheers and applause that made what they had given during our song seem a mere whisper. They loved it.

"Aishiteru." I whispered, breaking the kiss.

"Watashiwa ni." He responded with a smile.

* * *

"Wh-wa-WHAT?!" Edward wasn't able to form a single coherent sentence. Bella. His beautiful Bella, was going to marry some some stupid ass that wore too much black and had a sissy earring!

"Edward?" Alice asked cautiously breaking the silence from the far wall. Where the entire family was backed up, well except for Emmett, who was staring at the TV in shock with a blank look on his face, and Jasper, who was clenching his fists to his sides as if he didn't trust himself currently. Probably didn't to tell the truth, he had always been like a mirror reflective to everyone else's emotions, and was probably experiencing a good portion of Edward's anger at the moment.

Emmett as usual in a tense situation didn't have a clue outside his own little world. "Guys, didja hear? Bella's getting married?" He turned around yelling with a stupid smile plastered on his face.

"NO ONE IS MARRYING _**MY**_ BELLA!!" Edward roared at him, his fangs extended and eyes dilated. Without thinking he jumped at the TV and chucked it at Emmett, who dove under the antique coffee table to duck the oncoming projectile. But not soon enough for it just grazed the side of his temple.

"What the hell, Edward?" He growled rubbing his head. In a mad frenzy Edward lunged at him and started wrestling with him on the floor, despite being somewhat bulkier than his older sibling. Edward had a heated anger fueling his blood, so poor Emmett was huge disadvantage of his own.

"Edward calm down!" Carlise's voice boomed a loud order that could be heard and felt throughout the family structure.

"Don't tell me to calm down, _father_." The addressee hissed in a condescending tone. "_My _Bella is about to marry some foreign asshole named Gackt, and you expect me to stay _calm_?! Would you do the same in my position? HELL NO!!" Suddenly the enraged vampire could feel his body wanting to calm down so bad it hurt.

He whirled around to the offending party. "Damnit Jasper, stop it!" He yelled glaring daggers at the other vampire. Alice, as the so-called peacemaker of this little _family_ bravely stepped in front of him pointing a stern finger at her enraged 'brother'.

"Edward, don't you dare yell at us for your stupid mistakes! You were the one who told us to leave Bella and have nothing to do with her life! She isn't stupid Edward, not by a long shot. While I do admit being around us probably made that poor girl grow up sooner in some ways than she should have. I will not go any further than that, when she saw you weren't coming back, she moved on. You heard what she said on TV, this Gackt fellow was the one person to pick her up when you left her broken. She fell in love with him because of _you_! So don't you blame us. Don't you dare?" She screamed at the young man's face.

Edward felt the last wisps of his misplaced anger dissipate when he realized. She was right. Alice was absolutely right. It was his own fault that Bella was getting married to that ass Gackt. He had left her for her own safety and look what had happened she was a vampire and was getting married to that weird gothic guy. His mental functions screeched to a complete halt as it yanked back into focus, picked apart and replayed the information several times before the rest of him caught up and accepted it as fact.

"SHE'S A VAMPIRE??" He yelled in astonishment.

"Uh?!" Went the rest of the family exchanging uncertain looks with each other.

But Edward took advantage of the silence to steer their higher mental functions towards his point. They had all seen her close-up on TV; it shouldn't have been that hard to figure out. "Don't you see Bella hasn't aged, at all?" The rest of the family took this all in and nodded with increasing vigor as it sunk in.

"That means she's a vampire, meaning this Gackt guy will grow old and die someday."

"Yeah, but what if she decides to turn him into one? She's been on her own long enough to figure out the basics of being one of us." Said Rosalie. She had barely finished her sentence, when Alice's eyes went blank with an oncoming vision.

_There was a beautiful seventeenth century mansion, recently and lavishly restored. Bella and that Gackt guy were entering through an arched doorway from another room. Amidst the laughter and talking, Bella suddenly froze. "Bella?" Gackt asked more than concerned for her. Bella said nothing, only clutching at her head in obvious pain. "Oh no, Alice is having a vision of me!" She screamed, her anxiety and own concern for her fiancée overriding her own pain and panic. Alice felt her heart go into her shoes, as Bella stood up and glared right at her in the dreamscape with furious, blazing eyes. "Get out of my head and leave me alone!" She screeched hysterically, as Alice felt herself being sharply thrust back into her own body with the force of a meteor. But not before she saw the address, which even in Japanese she could seem to read easily for the information just seemed to slide into her mind. _

_13995 Hasagawa Street. Osaka._

"Edward, did you see that?" asked Alice. As she returned to her usual self, none the worse for the wear. He simply nodded. He was going to get to see his Bella again, he'd get a precious chance to apologize and explain himself. And most importantly, have a chance to stop this sham of a marriage in the making.

"Edward?" Said Alice once again.

"What?" He growled a little perturbed at being brought out of his pleasant reverie. One that currently involved disemboweling a certain mortal.

"How did Bella know I was having a vision of her?" She inquired innocently.

He stopped. Now that was a _very_ good question, one that he didn't quite have an answer to, not even a dumb guess, yet that is. But he'd be damned if he wouldn't find out. "I don't know, but we are all going to Japan right now!" His tone left no open argument, even to the 'parents' who surprisingly didn't seem to object to the overall idea.

"WHAT?" Screamed Rosalie in disbelief.

"Yay! We're going to see my little sister!" Cried Emmett.

"I'm getting to see my daughter again!" said Esme, eyes tearing at the thought of the unexpected reunion to come.

"But that means we have to meet this Gackt fellow. I am about due for a vacation." Carlise replied sensibly.

"Either way, I'm going to get a his autograph! And a new Barbie doll!" Alice said dreamily.

"Great, now I definately _am_ going to crack." Said Jasper with a groan.

It was a whirl of activity in the large house after that, as the family prepared to go and solve the mystery of what had happened to their wayward daughter so many years ago.

* * *

**_Ok, a few little extra notes: I figured that since Bella had a new life she'd want to forge a new identity too so both the Cullens, family members and other humans couldn't find her for various reasons. So, I figured that I'd just use another version of her name to make it reflect the person she has become. Schwannsee is actually German for 'swan', just a more elegant play on Bella's original name. And being in a foreign country that is used to all sorts of Europeans going in and out, just using Isabella would have probably have been enough to hide her._**

**_Japanese have many ways to say "I love you" ironically, it's like going up a scale depending on the tone and who one is speaking too. Aishiteru is like the "Ultimate" form of the phrase and propriety demands simply if you don't mean it keep your piehole shut!! Usually reserved for lovers and ultra-serious romantic couples. _**

**_Watashiwa ni; means 'me too'._**

**_Sama is a prefix of highest respect, usually reserved for a very ranked or upper-level person. I guess you could translate it loosely as 'Lord'._**

**_And lastly, I really wanted to include this about the new title. A long time ago I read somewhere that when a swan dies, it will sing it's own requiem (death song) and to those who've heard it it's supposedly the most beautiful heartwrenching thing ever. Don't know if it's true or not, but I thought it'd make a cool title for various reasons._**

**_Like it, hate it, want me to cram it in the trash can? Please click the pretty purple button and help me improve. Thank you._**


	2. Friends

**_Hello everybody! I had some unexpected free time and I was able to get the next chapter up sooner than expected. Thank you for all the nice things you've been saying about my efforts, just remember I didn't start this story Pixel Alice and TicTac101 did. "I'm" only fleshing the idea out with a little more detail. And I hope you all don't mind I kinda went a little bit overkill__ with this next chapter and it's longer than the last post. Well that said I hope you like it and will grace it with a review. Thank you and on with the fic:)!!_**

* * *

I flopped myself onto my favorite overstuffed chair with a resigned sigh, just yesterday my worst fears had been realized. Alice Cullen had had a vision of me. Which meant I might possibly have to see the Cullen's again; it had been a little over twenty years since I became a vampire and met Gackt. I took one of the throw pillows and screamed into it. It made me wonder after all these years Alice _finally _gets a vision of me. Talk about _late!_ I couldn't help but think it strange why now out of all those years that had passed when they could have found me. If it was one thing about Alice's all-seeing third eye it was a balanced trade-off what her visions lacked in unpredictability they made up for in an accuracy that any Psychic hotline would have sold their souls for at a discount. Ugh! Now I know I said that Gackt and I didn't like to be apart, but I never said that there were times that we weren't. Just that they were very few and far between and today was one of those times.

After my little 'freak-out' in the parlor a couple of days ago, Gackt had not only been as attentive as any true romantic in love can be. But he also had gotten very protective after I had filled in the blank spots of what really had happened. Which was now the result of my current house arrest, he didn't want me stepping foot outside our home until he could draw up some plan of attack. What can I say, he's extremely sweet, but also extremely overkill in some situations namely that which involves me!

Now I won't lie Gackt knows all about my past in Forks and my vampire 'family' along with my first boyfriend, Edward. Even Charlie, Renee and Jake, his pack just basically all the people and stranger circumstances that I had hoped to permanently leave behind, emphasis on the _permanent_ part.

It's safe to say, I'm still a bit clingy after all this time. What did people expect he was like my security blanket, everything when he was near was just, how could I explain it just..._right_. I didn't like to be apart from him for too long, and if that stupid vision hadn't happened. I guarantee that I would have tagged-along with Gackt to his photo shoot. There I would have been able to hang with a few of his old friends/bandmates, Yuu and Hyde were my favorites not to mention were the most fun. They liked to make up all sorts of weird games to pass the time when they weren't working or checking out any foreign supermodels on set. More fun for me I should say, I always beat the socks off them. Or maybe kicking back in a lawn chair where I'd let said supermodels envy me because I looked better in casual clothes than them in their expensive labels. Just to let them nurse the 'green-eyed monster' bites at my perpetual youth (not that they knew it) up close.

As they watched me watch Gackt modeling in this or that, I didn't care he looked good in whatever and if it was tight that was all I cared about. He liked to play with me and try to catch my eye because I knew he liked the attention from me. Everybody knew it, and all the girls were jealous of it.

This time I had planned to discretely flash the rock Gackt had given me for our engagement. Then let the flashbulbs from hiding paparazzi who'd managed to sneak on set. Let the ring catch the momentary light and blind them in a literal 'flash' if they got too close. Another toned down version of "Mess with the Gullible Human," One I liked better than messing with Keto-san. Because women are _so_ much more fun to provoke due to the intricate rivalries and paper-thin truces that people like to pretend don't go on at these affairs. I mean you pull one string, let a whisper of gossip go to an unsuspecting ear on the wind, or something of that nature then sit back and watch the fur fly. Secretly, I think the men (and maybe some of the women) like it better than sumo, the national sport. I know for a fact that many of the assistants and lower staff people take bets on it. Just don't mention it in public, they'll flatly deny it anyway of course. I also know a few of the regular hairdressers and a couple of times they've been allowed to bring some of their kids to the set, three or four of them at most ranging from grade school age to just entering middle school.

Plus, the older ones are big fans of mine and unlike American children remarkably well-behaved when meeting their idol. I let them hang around and tag along behind me, humor them when they whipped out the camera phones that all kids in this country seemed to be armed with. For a mini-photo shoot of our own for 'proof-pics' for their friends at school, it usually ends up being a lot of fun. Even with the crazy stuff those kids can come up with, what is it about having their picture taken that makes people give up all common sense? Still just because I gave up any chance of having my own doesn't mean I still wasn't overall fond of them.

But fun was definately off my schedule for the day, and here I was bored out of my skull with nothing remotely interesting to do. I knew it wasn't really fair, but on some level I blamed Alice for ruining my whole afternoon. I put on a disgusted pout thinking about it, and was nearly upended onto the hardwood floor by the loud peal of the doorbell. Yeah, it was safe to say I was distracted with stewing in my own sulkiness and was powerfully irritated at being pulled out of the pot. The thought of guests something I would have usually welcomed under normal circumstances, was a thing that I was secretly dreading at this point. As well as hugely annoyed, strange as it may sound, there is a live-in staff the size of a small army that cares for the house and surrounding garden where Gackt and I live. As many as three are wandering in groups, like little herds at any given time doing one thing or another making a very good wage for this current recession, especially when it comes to certain simple things celebrities didn't like to do, like answering the dang door for instance.

"Somebody care to answer the door?!" I cried down the back stairs to the downstairs kitchen, when no answer was forthcoming and the bell had been joined by heavy pounding some person probably thought was the proper way to knock. It sounded more like a battering ram, I cringed that door was original to the house when we bought it, over two-hundred and fifty years old at least and solid hand-carved cherry wood. Thus valuable in itself, if it was the Cullen's I prayed that the hand-shaped craters would come out because my fiancée would not be happy.

"Help! I've fallen and I can't get up!" I tried again hoping that someone would get the hint. I waited a few seconds. No dice. If my life had been an anime, I would have sweat dropped at the frustration of all this.

"BBRRINGGG!" The stupid thing now protested, practically squealing into my sensitive hearing to be acknowledged. Though it was across the house, it still hurt.

"I'm coming! Hold your horses!" I growled in the direction of the offending party, making a mental note that unless a good excuse was forthcoming this place would be experiencing some significant downsizing in the near future.

I was still grumbling all the way on my long walk through the place, which was more of a hike really getting a major migraine as the racket increased in volume. There I debated about tearing out the hem of my favorite and expensive "Baby Phat" tank top just to _attempt_ to drown out the noise. It wouldn't help anyway, the cold dread descended into the pit of my stomach and froze my already cool body when I finally got to my destination. Looking up at the crucifix that had been carved into the doorframe centuries before (which ironically was actually put there as a detourant for my kind) I pleaded my case, "PLEASE don't let it be the Cullen's, I'll do community service, adopt-a-highway or what the hell, Work for World Peace in a third world country, fourth or tenth if need be." I begged making my frazzled self presentable in the process.

I slowly opened the front door in order to minimize the shock value (for me, not them) only to once again be nearly knocked off my feet by two squealing brightly colored projectiles. I almost went into attack mode before I got a combined whiff of 'Sumomo Sunrise' perfume up one nostril and 'Bubblegum Blitz' Body Splash in the other.

"Ami! Yumi!" I sighed both relieved and delighted, letting out a breath of relief I hadn't even realized I'd taken.

I should have known. Even though our mansion was an import, the grounds surrounding the place were more native Japanese. Which also included a high wall and enough security (both an electronic system and service detail) to turn the place into a mini-military dictatorship. The fact that the Head of the Security was also a retired general in the National Army, and most of the bodyguards were ex-cops. Not to mention a few 'extras' added over the years that I won't go into other than to say they are really, really, really special. Basically nobody got into the place unless by express invitation or unless you were on the 'list' at the front gate.

My silly fear got the best of me; it would have taken a significant effort for the Cullens to get out of the United States. Being 'vegetarian' vamps most of their food source only resided within the heavy forested and mountained areas of North America and Canada. Japan has nothing like that, forests sure, but nothing so thick as that unless it's around a shrine property or a habitat in one of the national zoos. I'd kill them before they even touched the local population; most of the 'strays' around here are in fact family pets. Not that I'd ever seen them consider it as a possible food source mind you, but one never knew. It'd be a while before they could put a trip that big together anyway. I was safe, for the moment.

I didn't get a chance to elaborate any further because their hug got tighter, and I heard Ami screaming in my ear. "You're getting married, this is awesome!"

A more level-headed, but no less excited Yumi screaming in the other. "Bella, I can't believe Gackt-teme proposed to you on National T.V.!"

"Yeah! Somewhere out there are fan girls with runny mascara who are ripping up their princess dresses and burning me in effigy for corrupting him with my foreign wiles." I said, we shared a quick snicker over that.

"Let's celebrate, Bachelorette Slumber Party at my house!" Squealed Ami happily.

"Let's see the ring; they didn't get a clear shot of it on the Evening News." Yumi said, as they both let go of me. I giggled. Grateful that I was now able to showoff my new pride and joy to some fellow girly-girlfriends who knew how to make a proper fuss over it and thus my ego. Needless to say, they were struck speechless.

They gasped together in surprise. "It's beautiful." Ami continued in a breathless tone, she'd known Gackt for a long time and had a brother-sister thing going on with him. I think she knew that if he gave me something like that, the relationship had to be lasting and heartfelt. She didn't realize how just true that was.

"Come on, let's go inside." I said, they followed nodding dumbly still in awe of my ring. As we entered the foyer, my cell phone starting wailing like Johnny Depp, the Sweeney Todd theme actually. Don't know why I picked it, maybe it was just my morbid side making an appearance. I didn't know. But the man just has a dang good singing voice, not as good as my fiancée, but enough for me. Still, I quickly grabbed the phone from my back pocket flipping it open.

"Hello?" I asked.

_"Hi Bella, it's me."_ Came Gackt's voice from the other end.

My eyes lit up, it was so perfectly obvious that I was in love. "Hey sweetheart, what's up?"

I could just hear the smile in his voice. _"Nothing really. Just checking up on you."_

Ami prodded my arm, "Is that Gackt-teme?" I nodded. Then got worried when both girls exchanged the evilest grin, one that even made me shiver. So you know it was bad.

"Put him on speaker _now_." replied Yumi slyly, it didn't take Einstein to figure out those two were up to something. But before I could come up with an excuse.

_"Is someone there with you?"_ asked Gackt.

"Yeah." I replied hesitantly. "Ami and Yumi and they want to talk to _you_." I heard him groan in response and what I could swear was the distinct sound of a blunt object hitting a table. Before I could inquire, he was back again. _"Put me on speaker." _He said. I shrugged and did as requested and punched the specific button on my Razor.

"Konichiwa Gackt-teme!" They sing-songed innocently in unison, pretending nothing was amiss. I was just glad he couldn't see their faces they just screamed _impish_.

_"Konbawa Ami and Yumi-san."_ He replied acting all formal, it was so cute. I almost laughed outloud at that, when it came to those two even his voice sounded like it was bowing all the time.

"We're so proud of you." Heckled Yumi.

"Yeah, we can't believe you actually got up the nerve to propose to Bella-chan." Yumi said sweetly back.

_"Yes, I did."_ We heard him say smugly in a way only a guy can get.

What they said next though confirmed what the earlier 'evilness' had been about. "Gackt-teme can we stay over at _your_ house tonight?" Heckled Ami in such a way that to the average person would have been irresistiably cute and thus defenseless against it. But this was my fiancée we were talking too and he didn't have such a big hole in his defenses.

_**"NANI! HELL NO!!"**_He shouted into the phone, I groaned I hope he wasn't getting weird looks on his end, penguins probably could hear it all the way in Antarctica. And the high (echoing) ceilings in the foyer certain ally didn't help much. "Gackt sweetheart, please 'inside' voice." I begged trying to shake off the ringing in my eardrums.

What I didn't count on was Ami and Yumi's infallible back-up plan. "Fine then. We'll kidnap Bella instead." Replied Yumi in an evil voice.

_"No. Leave Bella alone, you hyperactive freaks!" _Gackt yelled yet again into the unfortunate appliance.

"Gackt-te...honey," I blushed, slapping my forehead at my stupid faux pas. "Everything will be fine and it's only for one night. Its supposed to be like an overnight bachelorette party." I explained casually, refusing to meet Ami and Yumi's what I'm sure were smug faces.

_"Fine, but just _one_ day."_ He didn't seem to have noticed before heaving a sigh, fully caving in.

"YES!" We three shouted giving each other an enthusiastic high-five. Unfortunately like when Gackt proposed to me, I got a little too excited and well...Ami and Yumi came away with hands a little redder than normal as a result. I smiled sheepishly mouthing apologies for their benefits as they mouthed their momentary pain silently. If Gackt had heard he'd have never let them live it down for a month at least, so it was more like a dignity and pride thing than anything else.

"That reminds me there was another reason that we came. Gackt-teme, Bella-chan can we interview you both for our show?" Yumi asked nicely, flashing me an "apology accepted" smile.

I remembered vaguely hearing something about it; it was popular in the United States. "The Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi Show?" I inquired.

"Yep, that's the one. So, will you both? Please, for us?" Ami nodded.

_"I don't see why not, it could be interesting and it won't hurt anything."_ Gackt said after a moment of thought, it probably seemed safer. Because deny Ami something she wanted then it would get 'screechy' to whosoever had tempted fate. That same trait caused her voice to get somewhat of a high-pitched squeakiness when she got excited and had caused me to dub her aptly, "Squeaky-chan" when it happened. Yumi thought it was funny until I christened her with one of her own, "Dinky-chan." But I'll get to that later.

"We'd just have to ok it past His Royal Majesty the "Red Brake" first." I chuckled. Everyone laughed, that was the Keto-san's nickname. And no truer title there was his favorite hobby was to put quick stops to any fun Gackt and I wanted to have. Then his face turned beet red while yelling at either one or both of us for doing it anyway, ergo "The Red Brake".

Ami started to clap her hands, squealing and doing a little jump for joy. It almost reminded me of...no, I couldn't think of that now. I had long ago made a new life for myself here in the Ancient Land of the Rising Sun with Ami, Yumi and most importantly, Gackt. Nothing else mattered to me.

_"Bella?"_ Gackt's voice brought me from out of my daydream.

"Oh sorry, what did you say honey?" I heard him laugh good-naturedly on the other end of the line at my absentmindedness.

_"I said goodbye and Aishiteru."_

I almost had tears in my golden eyes over that. "I love you too. Come home fast, ok?" I said quietly. Ami had an "Aww" expression going on. While Yumi rolled her eyes making fake gagging motions with her finger looked somewhere between "Oh Brother!" and "Look out, I'm going to hurl!". I gave her a glare in response as Ami gave her partner in crime a warning 'thwack' on the shoulder for emphasis on my behalf. To which I gave a smile and thumbs up with my free hand, while Yumi turned a glare to the both of us.

_"I will, but I have to get off now. Hyde and Chachamaru are giving me the evil eye. Later Ami, Yumi."_ He groaned the last part. _"Now _get out_ of my house."_

"Aww, Gackt-teme, you know that deep deep deep deep deep deep deep deeeeeeeeeeeeeeep down you love us like family." Ami cooed in a cutesy, childlike voice.

"HAH! Not a snowball's chance in the desert!" Yumi huffed indigently, but with an undertone of playfulness. So you know she didn't really mean it.

_"Whatever. Now play nice, girls."_ He chuckled.

"Always." We chirped innocently in unison like perfect little songbirds.

"Bye Gackt, see you in a few sweetheart and tell the guys I said Hi." I know it seems a little stupid, I blew an air kiss into the mouthpiece for good measure and with that I hung up.

"What?!" I snapped as genuinely indignant at Ami, as Yumi's had been playful. Because she was flashing me a look that was so unlike her, unless Yumi was involved. A sly one.

"He _really_ loves you." She said both ignoring my comment and stating the obvious. I couldn't help but flash a toothy grin that would have put both the Mad Hatter; The March Hare even the Old Chestshire Cat himself to shame. Because nothing in Heaven, Hell or Earth itself can knock that goofy smile off of the face of one who is utterly in love. Which I was. Totally, utterly and _completely_.

"I _still_ can't believe you two get to look that good for the rest of eternity." Yumi huffed in that playful way of hers. Now you might be shocked at that considering that two natural humans were standing in a room with their natural predator pretending to be one. The equivalent of a cat playing with mice most of my kind in the States would think. Not true, Ami and Yumi were my best friends and the _only _people Gackt and I truly trusted with our secret.

"Ok that takes care of everything, we'd better get going. We don't want to face the wrath of Gackt-teme, if he finds is here when he gets home. Besides our driver is circling around the block and he gets really cranky if you make him wait." Ami shuddered theatrically. Yumi and I burst out laughing.

"Don't they all?" I replied, remembering my experience with my own staff earlier, though still not quite understanding. "But isn't Yoshiyuki-kun your regular driver?"

"On vacation. Got a babysitter for the time being ." They shrugged in unison.

"Oh." I understood, perfectly.

All really big, truly successful stars are so rare that record labels are more dependent on them than they would like to admit. So they tend to get pretty neurotic at "protecting investments" against things like crazy fans, misc. accidents and etc.. Even going so far as to actually discreetly "planting" glorified spies and babysitters amongst a celebrity's regular staff at home and on the job for various periods of time. Especially if the star has a reputation for outrageous behaviour or a so-called _trouble magnet _(grin). It's sort-of a hidden loop-hole in any standard contract one signs, kind of like the darker side of the force to get us to behave. Kaito Keto is a classic example of what's called "The Watchdog," he's as tenacious as a cross between a steel bear trap and a rabid pit bull. Like they think we won't figure it out, yeah right! Why do you think that Gackt and I mess with him so much, we make that boy _earn_ his paychecks?! Still, the thought of a human actually _babysitting_ a pair of vampires, if he actually _knew_ the real truth like Ami and Yumi did he'd probably pee his pants just before he died of an aneurism. What a way to go, huh?

"Well we can't have you getting grounded now can we? That would spoil all the fun. Scoot along, you two I'll call you around eightish, ok? Then we can go from there." I said, playfully shooing the pair from my sight.

"M'kay that works for us, till then Ja ne." Yumi said satisfied. We waved our goodbyes to each other, as I showed her and Ami out the front door like a good hostess.

* * *

After they left, I heaved an immense sigh of relief finally realizing just how stressed out I was, like a well oiled machine wound a little too tight. I had to let off some steam before I blew a serious gasket, and there was no telling when or where that would happen. Not a good thing for a vampire. Fortunately, there was an easy solution at hand or rather underwater. When Gackt and I had bought this house we had one of the larger rooms in the back completely remodeled, I think was an old series of storerooms or pantries. Either way, it was now a very nice and gigantic indoor pool that looked more like a lush, hidden garden in the middle of a rainforest complete with mock volcanic rock waterfall.

Needless to say, it was my favorite place in the entire house. My own personnel equivalent of a child's playroom, I never ceased to be enchanted whenever I walked into its enclosed perfection. I went to our bedroom and pulled my favorite swimsuit from the closet, an impulse buy Gackt had convinced me to get from a charming little shop on the beach on a trip to the Bahamas. Ok, so at first it had been more to humor him than anything else, still it was a _tasteful_ black bikini. It was patterned with red roses criss-crossed just-so in shiny silver barbed wire which caused them to appear as if they were weeping tears of blood. As I headed towards the pool, I grabbed a matching wrap dress out of a nearby drawer. It's just basically a long piece of cloth you can tie in various ways anything from a long beach skirt to an actual full-coverage dress. Very useful on sea-side trips when you don't want stalkerazzi pictures of certain "problem areas", not that I do of course. Just a small force of habit, I'd picked up over the years.

Anyway, the pool has a nice little custom feature a temperature control it that goes way over the norm. My personal fave is a lovely, even 100 degrees. It just feels so good against the skin, like a warm chlorine bath. The smell is really the only bad part of the whole deal, with having superhuman senses and all. Everything else lumped together does tend outweigh that one small annoyance, anyhow.

I was literally floating in that little somewhere between sleep and awake when I thought I heard something give a resounding, "Bang!"

"Bella?" I heard Gackt's deep voice as if he was right there in the room next to me.

"I'm in the pool." I said in a lazy, contented tone, knowing full well he could hear me from where he was across the house.

"Want some company?" Was the next thing I heard definitely right next to me or rather my floating head. I cracked open an eye, to see Gackt on the edge towering over me and I got worried in a hurry. He was smiling down at me with the wickedest grin that he only got when he did something spur of the moment. My fears turned out to be well founded, then without warning; he dropped the bag he'd been carrying. Before cannonballing straight into the pool, fully clothed in several thousand yen worth of designer clothes. I gave a screech of surprise as pool water came raining back down on my already wet head and making me more drenched than I already was, if that was possible.

Did I say he was impulsive? Forget it, sometimes the guy's just simply_ nuts?!_

Before I had time to scold him like some errant child, he managed to do one of the things that made me fall in love with him in the first place. Make it all better, in a romantic way that appealed to my bruised ego.

"I missed you." He whispered into my ear, wrapping his arms around me. Romantic and Lovable. You tell me now what girl doesn't like to hear _that_ directly from her man?

"Hmm, I noticed." Was my brilliant response. He started to lay gentle butterfly kisses from my lips, leaving a trail down my jaw and neck. As I wrapped my arms about his own pulling him closer. The temperature seemed to get hotter and you better believe it had nothing to do with the thermostat.

"Gackt, I..." I whispered as the doorbell suddenly rang. "...damnit!" I hissed. Gackt gave a weak chuckle at my slip-up as he rested his forehead on mine.

"If that's Ami and Yumi, don't count on Maids-of-Honor at the wedding. Because I _WILL_ strangle them." He growled from deep in his throat, I could feel his fists balling up into the skin of my back. "I say we let somebody else get the door, let them deal with it."

"First it shouldn't be them, I said I'd call them and good luck with the second." I drawled rather sarcastically. At his questioning look, I answered. "Everybody around here seems to think it's a national holiday, the house is pretty much deserted right now. Still if you want something done, do it yourself. So the saying goes."

I jumped out of the pool grabbing my wrap off one of the deck chairs where I'd lain it. Gackt didn't see any reason to protest and followed my example only to catch up with me wrapping his arms around my waist as if to prevent Yumi's promised mock threat against my person, even though knowing her it was probably half-serious. If I had chosen to allow it to happen, of course. That and kind of putting myself in the position of living shield at the same time, if it was Ami and Yumi that is. I _wanted_ those Maids-of-Honor; I still hadn't had the opportunity to spring the 'Poofy Nightmares from The Pit of Hell' as Yumi dubbed bad bridesmaid dresses. Just call it payback for all the years of being the butt of one or the other's practical jokes, not to say I haven't gotten a few pot shots of my own. But there are once in lifetimes times when opportunity knocks and you just have to answer. I just had to remember to get pictures for posterity, future blackmail and maybe my MySpace blog.

We walked awkwardly to the front door leaving a long wet, trail throughout the house as a kind of mini-revenge on the housekeepers. Before Gackt resumed kissing my neck. I smiled again preparing to relish the looks on anybody's faces that were stupid enough to come around at this inopportune moment. Only problem was I forgot to plead my case again to the higher power, I opened the door. Then froze dead in my tracks.

"No." I choked out.

"Who is it, Bella? Gackt asked looking up momentarily.

As I saw the absolute _last_ person I wanted to see, Edward Cullen.

"YOU!" Edward snarled, Gackt didn't know who he was at the time or what it was all about. Still nobody expects a threat to be dumped directly onto their doorstep at any given time. All I know is one minute I'm facing down my enraged ex, the next Gackt put his arm around my waist pushing me behind him a strange role-reversal, eyes never leaving Edward the whole time. Edward had obviously given lee-way to the 'inner beast' we all have, pupils dilated and fangs extended crouched in a hunter's stance ready to pounce. They were just about to fight when...

"AHHHHHH!!" There was no mistaking the shrill war cry of excited fan girls, or who had made them. It'd been over two decades but how could I forget _that_ pair?! All of us cringed in response, as Rosalie and Alice came running up to us. They pushed Emmett, who up till now went unnoticed out of the way. Then heaved Edward like a sack of garbage into a nearby topiary bush.

"Oh my God! Do you know who you are?! You're Camui MS Gackt!" Rosalie screamed openly gawking at my fiancée.

"I LOVE your music AND your fashion choices!" Alice said, bouncing up and down in that 'bubbly' mode of hers.

"Specially _this_ one!" Rosalie drooled. I looked at Gackt to see that he had no shirt on; I blushed lightly at that, realizing it was still probably floating innocently back on the surface of the pool. Now only having on his trademark necklace, rings and bracelet and his jeans were clinging to his damp body.

"Wow, you have such _big_ muscles!" Rose said dreamily, feeling up his arms.

"Hey!" Emmett cried, not so forgotten anymore voiceing his opinion.

I felt a sudden surge of possessiveness and jealousy and I wrapped my arms around Gackt's waist, which he returned uncertainly. His eyes not leaving my hyperactive 'older sisters' the whole time. These two made Ami and Yumi's antics look like a Norman Rockwell painting, idylic, charming and completely _normal_.

"So does your _husband,_ Rosalie!" I growled back.

"Thank you!" Emmett responded relieved, somebody had noticed him amid all the chaos. Even tough he was still in what counted as the background.

But she didn't hear me. Alice was the next to kick up a fuss, I don't know how she managed to slip behind us. And at first I thought she was checking out Gackt's rear. This in turn had me seeing red, until I realized she was actually looking at the label sewn onto one of the back pockets. I could let it slide; it wasn't like she was pant seating him to get to his underwear. When _that_ particular little thought started running around in my subconcious like a runaway freight train however, I made a mental note to lock our bedroom door anyway.

"Oh my AH! He _is_ wearing Dolche and Goldoana!" She screamed. Her inner shopper must have been somewhere between absolutely delighted and the Rapture at that little piece of information.

"Bella, this is _really_ creeping me out." Gackt said through clenched teeth in Japanese, moving closer to me which was the most familiar at the moment. Me.

"Bella, you are SO lucky!" Both girls practically squealed at me in unison.

I didn't know at the time both had spent the entire seventeen hour flight listening to every album Gackt had put out since his early Malice Mizer days along with an entire stack of old record and fashion magazines. That they had just happened to pick up in Little Tokyo in San Francisco on the way to the airport in LA, then formed their own fan club to boot. Apparently, they wanted to see just how much mischief their 'little sister' had gotten into. Then had instead both ended up as diehard fans, no pun intended. Oh joy and rapture, I beat out half the girls in the Eastern Hemisphere for one man only to end up with this! And these two are supposed to be _how much older_ than me, again?!

Anyway, Emmett and Jasper were both yelling, "Hey!" that time.

"Alice, Rosalie please stop drooling over _my _fiancée." I gloated smugly. Yeah, I couldn't help but want to monopolize him, so sue me. I knew a good thing when I had it.

"Fiancée?! Ha, I'll believe it when I see it." Edward commented rather rudely, which I thought was pretty damn bold coming from a guy that looked like he had just made a mad dash escape from a rabbit hutch. His clothes were covered in dry grass and a few leaves, a few dirty patches here and there. There were bits of evergreen sprig still sticking out of his once perfectly combed flyaway hair, and his face was red and scratched from fighting his way out of the bonsai styled branches. This guy currently had all the sex appeal of a fire hydrant to me. Although I would have been too perfectly happy to pull a fire hose on him to just keep him from dukeing out a Battle Royale with Gackt on our front porch. Did I seriously think I was in love with him once?

"Excuse me?" I heard Gackt say in English, in a calm almost deathly voice.

"Gackt precious, please not here. Control your temper." I pleaded with all the gentleness one would give to handling an active nuclear warhead. This was the one area where my annoyance at Edward was overridden by the concern for the general overall well-being of my vampiric family. Gackt's a sweet, fun-loving and pretty mellow guy. Usually. If he likes you, you couldn't have a better best friend in the world. But on the other hand, his hair-trigger temper is legendary in the industry. It only gets out rarely, but when it does, two words...LOOK OUT!!

"Edward, behave yourself! This is not our home, and make yourself presentable. We're guests here ourselves." Esme scolded, as she finally arrived up the long walk with Carlise at her side. He looked properly ashamed, he did as he was told but the scowl remained pointedly fixed. And I in turn, let out a mental sigh of relief that I wouldn't have to organize any damage control.

"Hey Bella! Forget the hothead, come here and give me a hug!" Emmett smiled in that boisterous school-boy way of his, how could I resist such a request? I laughed and gave him a little squeeze lifting him off the ground for good measure; he was just as big a teddy bear as I remembered him to be.

"Whoa! My lil' sis got strong. Oh, I like your outfit." He laughed mischievously with just a hint of admiration when I placed him back on the ground.

Crap! I had _completely_ forgotten about my bikini, well that's what I had brought the wrap for. In less than two seconds, I had finished tying it about my neck for a finished result. Not too bad for a rush job, and it covered all the goods so no more fights would break out hopefully. I put my arm around Gackt who in turn wrapped his arms around me as I leaned into him like I was going to kiss him. Edward let out a growl, but said nothing as per ordered by Esme.

Only I didn't kiss Gackt, I whispered in his ear. "I'm going to shower and change clothes, so _behave _until I get back." I said firmly yet with a fond tap on the nose, as I pulled away from him.

"I could go with you, but then I can't promise that'd I'd behave." Gackt whispered into my ear, momentarily forgetting that anyone else was there. And lapsing back into the romantic vibe we had started earlier in the pool. Rosalie and Alice squealed happily, while Emmett and Jasper chuckled knowingly. Carlise and Esme looked like they were about to burst into laughter. Esme was blushing prettily at the same time murmuring something to her husband about, 'young love' and all that jazz, I couldn't quite catch all of it. What do you want from me; I was on another planet with a two-digit population at the time?!

I felt so comfortable and at ease then and was so sure that no further problems were going to pop up, wrong! A snarling Edward launched himself at Gackt. In what I know was more of an effort to protect me than out of his own self-preservation, my fiancée launched himself at Edward at almost the same time.

This was the one of the few times in my life where I was insanely glad that my mouth occasionally runs off without checking with my brain first. "STOP!" I cried, with such authority even Aro of the Volturi probably would have listened to the command. Either way, my command was heeded. Both men froze in mid-air.

"What the hell?!" Edward screamed in utter shock and surprise at finding all of himself five feet off the ground, and one shorter foot away from the intended target and not one inch of his body, other than his face was responding to his higher mental functions. Which I was honestly starting to doubt he even had in the first place!

"Not again." My fiancée sighed dramatically. The other Cullens were openly gawking at me with utter disbelief written on their stupefied faces, except for Alice who stood beside me.

"You should know better." I hissed, pointing my finger at Gackt, then to Edward. "_Both_ of you!"

"And you shouldn't be saying anything!" Alice yelled at Edward even more before I could. Good old, dependable Alice! I humbly retract my earlier comments. It was nice to know I had a reliable ally in all this, because I had a sinking feeling that 'World War III' was just getting started. Oh how right I was, both of them continued to hiss and spit at each other like drenched tomcats despite our combined efforts. I just prayed things didn't get any worse.

Then Gackt's cell phone rang.

"Dear God, _please_ don't let it be _them_." He groaned ignoring Edward who had stopped being uncivilized a moment and whose interest was roused.

"Who?" He asked.

"Evil Cuteness Incarnate." Came the reply, I glared at him in return. I know they weren't there, but that was no reason to be rude. Edward however, was momentarily forgotten over more pressing concerns.

"Pardon me a moment," I bowed politely then was gone in a flash, and back in an instant. Gackt's cellphone in hand.

"Hello?" I asked.

_"GACKT-TEME!! Bella promised to call, she didn't so I know you're holding her hostage. So, I'm _ordering_ you bring her over to our sleepover NOW!" _Screamed Ami from the other end, oh boy she was really mad.

"Ami, it's me Bella. I'm sorry, I'll have to postpone for the time being." I said sadly into the receiver.

_"Why?"_ She sounded so disappointed, I hated doing that to her. She asked for so little in our friendship, I felt like I'd just punctured her fondest dream balloon just too callously watch it die. For fun. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Unfortunately, I felt just bad enough to let my guard down. With Ami, major mistake!! Only I realized that a little too late.

"I'm truly sorry, Squeaky-chan. Let's just say I have some old friends over right now and they've traveled a long way to be here. I can't just up and leave them." I answered in what I hoped was a dejected enough tone.

_"Bell-Bell-chan, I think you're leaving out the details from me."_ She cooed in a sickly sweet tone.

DAMNIT!! I forgot she knows I only use the 'pet' names when something's up or I'm hiding something.

"Not _exactly_." I protested.

_"Then you won't mind if "Dinky-chan" and I come and see for ourselves why you would leave your best friends, who have been with you through thick and thin, taken you under our wings when you came to a strange country..." _Ami started laying it on real thick, she knew what she was doing, she was the baby in a large family that included multiple siblings and cousins. So, you do the math literally in this case.

"Alright, I get it enough with the guilt trip. Just sneak past your "babysitter" get your partner-in-crime, and grab the nearest taxi down here and I'll explain everything." I snapped at her, pretending I didn't see Gackt frantically shaking his head mouthing 'NO!' in both English _and _Japanese, plus several other languages. Like that would detour me, Ami or Yumi, as if.

_"Thanks don't mind if we do. We'll be there in no time; you'd better have some great answers because Yumi and I have some Fantastic questions. Buh-bye for now, Bell-Bell-chan." _She chirped thoroughly satisfied with her manipulation, as the line went dead. Now I was starting to understand why Gackt never did let himself not be emotionally rigid in front of the pair.

"Sorry, he wasn't listening." I said sympathetically to him, nonchalantly flipping the cell phone closed with a resounding 'click'.

"Perfect. And my day goes from frying pan to the incinerator." Gackt groaned. I ignored him, turned to the Cullens and Hales and smiled.

"Would you like to come in?"

* * *

**Well that concludes yet another chapter, and here's a few translation notes.**

**Konnichiwa means "Hi".**

**Konbawa is a really polite way of saying "Good Afternoon."**

**Teme is a calling name, it means a lot of stuff stupid, ugly but mostly translates as "idiot." (It's Naruto's favorite insult to call his teammate, Sasuke.)**

**Ja ne, I know it looks like a bad spelling of "Jane," but trust me it is spelled right. It loosely translates to "Until next time" or "See you soon." A really quick way to say goodbye.**

**Nani means "What."**

**Kun is a very personal prefix only used to address a boy or guy you know _extremely_ well, its like a term of endearment.**

**Sumomo means "plum." I don't know what Ami and Yumi really wear, I just tired making something up to fit their personalities.**

**Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi is one of my favorite Japenese import shows, at the end of every one the Ami and Yumi would do a live taping in Japan with a special message for the fans in America. Unfortunately, you could never understand it because they were talking in Japanese, but who cares those two are _awesome_ anyway!!**

**And as for Gackt for those who don't know, Yuu pronounced "Ju" in Japanese and Hyde are indeed Gackt's bandmates and Best Friends and have been for almost the last ten years. Chachamaru is a bandmate of his in Gackt's hit band.**

**Thanks for looking and please click on the pretty purple button to make me happy!! Thankx;D!!**


	3. Past: Part 1

**_Hi all! I finally finished another chapter, now this ended up being too long so I seperated it into two chapters. It's not a continuation of the last chapter, per se. Or rather not yet, I wanted to go backward a bit in time and have Bella tell how she got to that particular situtation. So, this is a two-part chapter and I hope you all enjoy it. I apologize in advance if it's a little crappy, I haven't had a lot of time and inspiration lately. So please let me know, so I can correct it if it sucks. _**

**_Thanks and Enjoy:)!!_**

* * *

Now if you were to ask me if I hated the Cullen's you might be surprised to learn the answer in fact would be a flat out, no. Annoy me, yes most definately. Hate, N-O. But hey, that's what family's do and deep down on some level I still considered them as such.

Now that'd I've had the chance to live (no pun intended) a few years in the "real" world. I understand where they were coming from to tell the truth, I even did when I was still human. I just didn't want to admit it to myself; I was like a Koala Bear with my immaturity all too common in human adolescence. Cute but clingy.

You're just starting to emerge from the fantasy of childhood to the big, bad "grown-up" world. Everything is new and different, overall so exciting that even the gravel in the most broken down, weed-filled cranny sparkles with the luster of diamonds. In short, the rose colored glasses are on, the blinders are up and nobody's home or taking messages because the answering machine is unplugged. Yes, that was me, two short decades ago.

Ami, Yumi and Gackt laughed at me when I told them this, but honestly it's true in my opinion. And they were drunk in a private Karaoke booth at the time I told them, so I seriously doubt that they remember any specific details.

Though I remember it clearly enough at the end of their collective giggle fit. Ami in that sweet, sympathetic way of hers (magnified by loads of sake and imported German beer) decided that my plight was so incredibly touching. With that hair-trigger mood change only drunks can get proceeded to pounce on me give me a bear hug, and burst out blubbering for a full twenty minutes. I should know after the first five, I looked over her shoulder and timed via my cell clock. To which she then promptly forgot what she was crying about in the first place. Promptly belched in my ear, before proceeding to pass out on my shoulder in a drunken stupor drooling happily on a thirty-five hundred dollar Vivian Westwood dress. Honestly, I was just grateful she didn't puke on me. Oh and that wasn't the best part, I found out Yumi snores like an asthmatic walrus and talks in her sleep. There's this little bit about losing a look-alike contest in Shinjuku, which I'm still holding back for future blackmail. Not to mention the absolutely delicious pictures I got of all three on my camera phone. Yes, sometimes life is good.

But overall I mean aside of that, come on, if you'd been in my shoes at the time would you have honestly have had the guts to spill your troubles to a _sober_ person?! It might not have counted to anybody else, but _I_ certainly felt better for their hangovers afterward. I was even first in line to cheerfully nurse them back to health, call it my little Thank you to the Powers that Be for small universal favors. Conscience in the clear.

Now there are a lot of stupid myths running around about us, a lot of which that even Edward never told me. Probably because I was still too embarrassed to ask back then, even then he never volunteered the information or just didn't know. I'm leaning toward the latter on that one because in a few years of being on my own I began to realize. All the Cullens and Hales lead an extremely charmed and sheltered life compared to the rest of the vampire world. Even with being 'vegetarian' it might be considered a 'coven' to others the difference is there is an actual family bond there with good doses health, happiness, a dash of healthy rivalry to keep things interesting and most importantly loyalty and love amongst other things. I was privileged to be a part of it for as long as I was, it was the closest I ever was to a stable, loving environment in my youth. Ironic too, I know, it's something that's still not lost on me after all the bizarre crap I've seen. Still it's more than most people in my generation have ever gotten, and I'm extremely grateful for it.

If you know me by now, you'll begin to realize just where I'm coming from. When I think back to that defining moment in the forest with Edward when he 'left' me for my own "safety," quote unquote. Then in a nutshell, I went into a waking coma for four months, "catatonic" those stupid quacks at the hospital called it.

At least that's what I wanted them to think.

Because it in turn gave me time to _think_, a _lot_ of time! A performance I should have gotten every big film award you can think of from a Golden Globe to an Oscar for. I took a huge risk in doing it, but in the end I fooled not only an entire building full of trained medical professionals, law enforcement (namely Charlie) and all my friends and fellow townsfolk. I was able to keep them strung along like a perfect pied piper dancing to my hypnotic 'tune' to make them leave me the heck alone. I probably could have gone longer; it was nice not having to go to school not really because of the memories of the wayward Edward.

It was more like in having to go to a place with people who I was starting to realize though were well-intentioned, were as mentally animated as wet concrete. They had no drive or ambition to get out of Forks and into the world, it was always lumber, trucking or the outdoors with those people. I could go into a diner pick anyone at random ask something as simple as, 'What is American Idol, sir or madam?' And come on, it had been on like what, a decade or more? They would look at me like I had just told them that my great-aunt was sick with chicken pox because she'd eaten an elephant. However if I mentioned the latest edition of 'Outdoorsman,' whose cover I'd only glimpsed two sentences/article names in passing. There'd be at least half a dozen people, _both_ men _and_ women surprisingly cornering me to where I'd have to listen to hours of 'fish tales' as far back as somebody's great-great-grandfather's time. Oh what fun that was!

Edward, the Hales and Cullen's were like an unconscious breath of fresh air, like I was with our schoolmates and maybe a bit of a novelty too, I'll admit. Any one of them could carry on an intelligent _nature-free_ conversation, respected your opinion on a topic and didn't look down on you like you were two for speaking it in the first place. That was really the beginning of my re-birth, so to speak, not yet in the physical as it was so much the emotional.

As I was saying, whenever I think about the events following my subsequent 'abandonment'. The wise old proverb, "you can't see the forest for the trees" keeps coming to mind. You never can see what's right in front of you until you can run backward a distance and see it all in proper focus. I had used the quiet-time to do just that and I didn't like what I saw, not one bit. Don't get me wrong, Edward's leaving stung _badly._ But surprisingly no worse than when you first pull a band-aid off your skin. Sure, it hurts the first few seconds, then its ok and you're no worse for the wear. It was more like my ego got a punch to the gut than anything, there I was I'd started as a micro-speck from the butt end of nowhere. Then suddenly it was like seeing the light for the first time in my life, I had high status around town as the police chief's daughter, relocating from the 'Big City' was downright popular at school and had one of it's most gorgeous guys on my arm.

Sure, finding out the Cullens were vampires and all that other junk that happened, pretty much turning my world upside down was the very least of my problems. But who cared? In a relatively short time, for the first time in my life I was the envy of _popular_ people. There were people jealous of me, Isabella Swan, an ex-introvert from Phoenix, AZ. I was loved, accepted and respected at least on the surface or because of my dad, secretly I was loving it. I didn't care that every other moment of my existence was borrowed time, compounded on a heavy interest of blood, sweat and tears most of them my own. I was living every teenage girl's dream, I never thought about width, depth or tomorrow any sooner than I had too. It was the first and last 'shallow' period of my life, in more ways than one.

I had come to realize that somewhere between here and there, I was glad Edward hadn't had the time to turn me. There was a bond between us, but not like what Carlise and Esme had. For me, it had been rose-colored puppy love and like it's commonly known, you just never forget that first one for good or bad. I was free to live, so to speak as I saw fit. And you know what, I was perfectly happy with that. Edward had been just been one of a long stream of a certain type of person that somewhere along the course of my life I'd just been unconsciously programmed to 'attract'.

In short, I was a 'living shield' magnet, literally.

All my life teachers, my few friends, even my parents among others it was like they never trusted me to do anything on my own. Instead rather opted to shove me so far into my physical shell that'd I'd come to believe the illusion of wafer thin barrier being harder than tempered steel. They shielded me so well from danger they'd even done so to the point from even living my own life. My only real fear was that nobody was going to be there to hold my hand from day-to-day. During that period whilst masquerading in reality, in my own little world I'd come to a startling realization. You know one of those times in your life something, physical or emotional happens that so monumental. Somehow every small detail from what you were doing, feeling or where exactly you were and everything in-between six-ways-from-Sunday. Is all permanently burned into the back of your skull with such clarity that even fine crystal looks dull and you can recall it flawlessly for years afterward. Pretty much effectively knocking the very foundation of everything you've grown-up to believe off its axis then promptly nose dives into oblivion. Well it's safe to say, I had such an "ah-ha"moment.

When I was little one of my all time favorite movies was the classic, Wizard of Oz. Ironically my favorite character _wasn't_ the happy-go-lucky pig-tailed chick, wearing a fashion nightmare in the form of a checker board tablecloth with blaring red shoes, along with a yappy dog as an accessory. It was the Scarecrow; don't ask me why, he just appealed to my five year old nature at the time. I loved to sing along with him at the top of my lungs, the video I had gotten for my birthday it was one of my prize possessions. Until Renee got sick of it, and I'd be banished from my sacred spot in front of the magical picture box to the exile of the dreaded, 'backyard.' I didn't let it stop me though; rather I would just annoy the neighbors instead. I can't tell you how many times, I would circle the house with the broom Renee used for the back porch dressed in the discarded clothes of just one of many of her long-forgotten boy-toys. I'd have a ball pretending I was on the yellow brick road going toward the Emerald City with Scarecrow belting out his signature tune, you guessed it..."If I Only Had A Brain."

In all the years since, contrary to what the world at large said. I finally realized, "Hey, I really do have one. And I know how to use it. Go figure." Wouldn't my Scarecrow be proud? It only took me to the edge of a cliff, and literally staring down the razor edged rocks honed sharp by years being dashed upon by the waves to realize it. Nothing like staring down the Angel of Death to give one back the zest for life, huh?!While I was up on that desolate wind-swept bluff, I used that newfound brain power and gained a new feminine confidence about myself, one I'd never felt before. I can't really describe it, only that it was like another step towards some goal I didn't know I wanted to reach. Looking down at the choppy water facing my own mortality, I thought to myself, "What the _**HELL**_ was I doing up here?"

Sure, I knew the pros and cons._ I_ was human; _he_ was immortal and would live long after my greatest-great-grandchildren were gone from this world assuming I even chose to procreate. But he was still a guy; did that mean a simple guy really worth this amount of emotional pain and suffering? One who was so cowardly that he didn't want to fight for what he supposedly loved so much. Simple answer, no he wasn't. I ended up creeping back to the house as silently as I had come; Charlie never even knew I was gone.

I had other problems to deal with anyway. When I had come home from the hospital, in-between piles of Renee's usual bothersome screeching emails while Charlie fussed, fretted and worried like a headless mother hen. I planned.

Finding to my delight, I had an unused warehouse of talents I didn't realize I even had; in factory new condition no less. I already knew I could act or rather "blow things completely out of proportion," curtsey of darling Renee. I know I couldn't lie to save my life when I was a teenager. But I was also somewhat bright, quietly clever, manipulative, _extremely_ patient (living with my parents even I'm not surprised I didn't get this little gem sooner) etc. etc. and all that jazz. I knew that they'd be watching me like a veritable hawk; every teenager is born with that particular little inner alarm. It came in really handy for what counted as the first phase of my master plan, which was that stupid truck Charlie got for me. After the complete bliss of Edward's fast, expensive sports car, I'd decided that it was time for an upgrade.

Not to mention, it was for practical reasons, I never told Charlie but I'm positive that thing was either possessed by the spirit of or was a reincarnated from, an Army Tank. I swear to God that crapheap had inner radar and just loved hitting things despite who was at the wheel. I was starting to understand in a weird way why Jake's dad might have gotten rid of it in the first place. Sure, Charlie's a good guy to tell the truth, but he's also kind of a simp. The easily taken kind, very easily, especially when in reference to that rolling Weapon of Mass Destruction. I swear that thing actually seemed to take particular sadistic pleasure in freaking me out at the time; it was in the Top Five category of my inner list of pet peeves. Only second to the slot before it, which it also co-occupied with my darling Edward. He liked to poke fun at me over my nervousness about it, was it any wonder that I privately called it ironically, "The Tank." Also a few other things that wouldn't be permissible in polite conversation.

On a more serious note about them, you could bet anything you cared too with the utmost certainty; I had and have absolutely no respect for my parents. I mean what kind of _real _parent is so spineless or age-afraid that they don't let a kid do something as natural as call them "Mom or Dad," instead calling them by their real name.

Renee, my darling mother she always wanted to be famous and she was in a way, as the poster child for absolutely useless people. I'll be first to admit she was an airhead with baggage, but she was a very _attractive_ airhead. Who never cared for anything other than her own instant gratification. Why do you think she married that pantywaist minor leaguer, Phil Dwyer who could make a half-melted Ken doll still look like a dream date. I never cared for him myself, after he tried to flirt with me a couple of times. Fortunately, he did nothing more than that or at least didn't get the chance to. When that offer from Charlie came in, was it any wonder I tripped over myself just to get to the backwoods of an even remoter, bigger nowhere?!

Ever since I was little, it was a constant non-stop 'whine-a-thon,' "I should have gone to California!" I "Your father was a good man; he just had no ambition or drive." "Dr. and Mrs. Michaels are selling that fine Spanish Colonial, wouldn't it be nice if we could afford it." On and on and on, didn't matter on the subject she was _so_ sure that he was going to make it big, that her meal ticket had finally come in. It was more like the other way around, only she was too besotted to notice. Honestly, the only reason she wanted me to stay was that I was her special, 'whining buddy.' After growing up with it, you just never know anything otherwise. If something went wrong, I would always be the one she cried too and make it all better by telling her what she wanted to hear. Even when it was _her_ fault.

Personally, I suspect Phil had Mommy issues coupled with the fact that the little tripe was smart enough to figure out her mortgage was paid up and tax-free child support was coming in. If the little boy's sports fantasy pipedream didn't pan out, he could at least count on the fact he had a half-decent place to crash. All the while being taken care of by someone who was financially stable, somewhat good-looking for a few more years and most importantly _grateful_. My overall vote is on number three, however Renee was two things a woman should never be, desperate and single. Or at least to advertise in public, it attracts parasites faster than scavengers to a carcass. But alas, he was a young good-looking red-blooded man and interested in her. Which I think also validates the fact, she's _incredibly_ stupid. I know what part of the family my former naiveté came from.

And Charlie, well now that I really think about it. I might take back a little my earlier comment about this subject, if there was anything I could say. At the very least, Ol'Charlie _tried_ to be a good dad; he just wasn't very good at it. But I will say this much, he was quite a character. True to the bone, rock-solid Apple-pie All-American guy that ever there was. Sure, a part of me thought that he sometimes didn't have the sense that God gave half-rotted road kill. In my opinion, I honestly wish he and Renee had waited rather than marry based solely on raging teenage hormones following a graduation party. But what's done is done; it can't be changed so why whine about it. I've had enough practice with it to know.

And in a way that could have done any romance novelist proud, coupled partly with typical masculine stubbornness. He refused to let go of that memory, he never really got over Renee leaving him. Even when I arrived I couldn't fully understand it, if I hadn't been so timid at the time I probably would have burst out with show tunes and break dancing the minute I walked over the threshold. Some part of me wanted to say how lucky he was, she'd left him _voluntarily_. I had to practically crawl through broken glass and piles of salt to get out of that woman's strangle hold. Because the entire time I was packing my bags, she followed me around like a needy toddler. All the while trying to, "convince" me that I didn't have to go I could come with them. Another of darling Renee's shining talents, guilt trips.

Charlie was nothing if not interesting, now that I think about it. In private he was one of the most shy, timid people males particularly, you'd ever want to meet. Sure, he was a typical small-town flatfoot, a little too fond of sticking his nose where it didn't belong in town. But unfortunately, as Police Chief he could get away with it under the pretense of catching up on the local gossip. Also people just liked him; he had a certain boyish charm and a lilt in his step that even I found hard not to dislike. This kind of explained a lot of his preferences in his private life, Marlin Brando and John Wayne were his childhood heroes. He thought Mr. Ed and F-Troop on Nick at Nite re-runs was the epitome of entertainment, and the funniest thing in creation. The only person I ever knew, who like clockwork actually cried (each and every time and episode) when Timmy fell down the well. Not to mention, I personally once saw him punch down a sober man who could have easily passed as a small giant who was causing trouble while drunk at a picnic once.

Like I said, nothing if not an interesting pair.

Sure during the 'planning stages', my parental units required a little TLC that I fondly liked to call 'maintenance.' A chipper long distance phone call completely on my part, trying out a new recipe from one of the locals for dinner, prattling on about school and my (brainless) classmates and (dullard) teachers. All in all, being the bubbly, ditzy and zero-IQ mass-produced society drone parents for the most part are used to. In the end it was SO worth it, turned out an ounce of prevention was worth a metric _ton _of cure in this case. Like all parents in this day and age who pretty much want to take the hands-off approach to child-rearing, as long as they aren't on drugs, sexually active or a genetic time-bomb. The kid who plays his or her cards right can get away with nothing short of bloody homicide in a small town like Forks, NOT that I did anything remotely like that mind you. No, what I mean is I was able to carry out said plans with nobody running interference.

Happily, my excuse/cover wasn't really that far off hand. It made Ol' Charlie pleased as fruit punch and had the added bonus of keeping the old fart off my back for the time being. My solution was my pint-sized suitor, Jacob Black himself. Now when I hung out with the other Cullen siblings, I'd learned about their likes, dislikes and hobbies that sort of thing. Rosalie especially, now don't look at me all funny, sure people say she's the most beautiful woman in the world. But that wasn't the reason we tolerated each other's airspace at the time, I was hardly a groupie worshipping at her peeling veneered altar. No, for some unknown reason (even to myself) I was intensely interested in a rather unusual talent she possessed.

All that constant speed demon driving Edward and the others are so fond of was hard on man made vehicles. Even if they're built for that kind of speed, just not that _constantly_, User Manuals don't exactly include a chapter covering the turning of a major highway into the vampire equivalent of NASCAR. But anyway, they require maintenance, and a LOT of it new parts could last maybe a week or two. It all depending on school schedules and a whole mess of a "wish and a prayer" to the Patron God of Auto Zone. That was where Rosalie came in, she could drop any one or more of the engines out of those stupid cars take them apart like a thousand piece jigsaw puzzle, replace this, swap those parts, glue this sucker on that doohickey. Then put it back together and the sucker would run like one of the Sandman's most blissful dreams.

NASA probably would have killed to get her, what she could pull off in the way of mechanics was nothing short of defying all known natural laws of science. Of course, these are the same people who spent how many zillions of dollars to say that a honeybee can't fly, to which it happily shakes it's striped little behind, and buzzes off to do its business as Nature programmed. The garage was that goddess' stomping ground, and woe to the one who screwed with her sacred space. Emmett once got himself ripped a new one from his dear wifey-poo for simply putting an auto magazine she said he could borrow on the work bench instead of in a case on the shelf, Rose had for that type of stuff.

She's religiously fanatic about keeping everything clean and in its place, I learned just to sit on a stool in the back of her workspace and not bother anything. Though not too far back that I couldn't see what she was doing or ask a question or two, that's why she tolerated me I think. I was paying attention to her in a new way, I mean even a woman can get sick of hearing she's pretty and gorgeous all the time. Especially where Rose's ego was concerned, strange as it may sound. I learned a lot from her, all that time I spent walking haphazardly on eggshells and faulty land mines paid for itself. Gackt reminds me of her honestly, he liked the speed demon racing and cars _before_ he became a vamp, he had the serious dough to spend on it too. The only difference is that now we work on them together and he never let anyone else near his precious 'man-toys' before. Yeah, he totally loves me.

Still, when a certain thing gets stuck in my head I usually nine times out of ten, end up attracting people who correspond to that. My mind was totally stuck on 'mechanic' mode at the time; Jake was a novice at it himself. No where the scale of Rosalie, but come on she had had decades of trial and error experience. Jake was starting his life compared to her, and I admit while the kid was as big a pushover as Charlie where I was concerned. I really enjoyed both his company and the time I spent with him that summer, his specialty was more in motorcycles than his father's interest of cars. This was fine by me. After my experience with The Tank anything was vastly better in comparison, why do you think I took to walking most places. It wasn't for the exercise, I'll tell you that much.

We spent the better half of several months fixing and restoring this ancient motorcycle, I unearthed from its sacred burial in the back of his grandfather's garage. We spent a most of our time digging up parts from the locals, scrounging cans and bottles to exchange for money to buy what we needed or bumming tools off of his Dad or mine. (Ok, so Charlie was useful in another way, so sue me.) Well I should say, Jake spent most of his time trying to flirt with me over Car magazines and how-to books and I did most of the work under his _supervision_, quote unquote. It made everybody happy and helped keep my mind both occupied and focused, so I didn't complain. I did become fond of him, and was perfectly happy to give him a sisterly hug or a kind word or two. But I didn't like him in _that _way, I knew deep in my heart I never really would. He'd make some girl insanely happy, it just wasn't me. I tried in a thousand little ways to tell him this, but love isn't blind for nothing. Sigh!

There was also another reason I liked hanging around with Jake it helped me to make money covertly. Lets just say, not all of that 'soda-can money' actually went into the 'bike fund' per se. What Jake didn't know was I had an agreement with his grandfather; I would pay him a set amount in either money or labor and fix up the bike myself. Everything went off without a hitch, and I was the proud owner of a vintage motorbike. Just nobody knew it but me, and Old Man Black of course he was a little bit on the forgetful side though.

While we're on the subject of money, that was also another thing about the Cullen's lifestyle that annoyed the crap out of me. Call me weird but if Renee and Charlie ever did anything for me was to instill a sense of earning an honest dollar. It didn't take a rocket scientist to see the result of the different hobbies and tastes ranging from what could be considered well-off to the downright extravagant. From the fancy Victorian style house they all shared, to the foreign sports cars just given on a whim to each of the younger Cullens. Even Rosalie's custom 'modifying' on said vehicles and Alice's drop-of-the-hat shopping sprees at any store that had the ill-fortune to be in her path at the time. Even with the mass fortune I'm sure he's earned over the centuries as a doctor, with the exception of Esme of course.

Poor Carlsie has no less than _five_ people mooching off of him at any given time. Because all of them were 'turned' before they hit twenty-one, since by society's present standards it's not enough to get them a decent job above the fast-food bracket. Not that I ever saw them go out and make an effort, mind you. Sure being a vampire comes with its own set of problems for each person. But I had and have no desire to be the sixth cherry at the top of that particular disaster sundae, that man works hard enough everyday saving human lives. Only then to come home to get the life, no pun intended sucked out of him in the way of his wallet. Sometimes being a vampire really sucks in more ways than one, ya know?! Anyway moral of that little story, I've earned my own nest egg for the centuries thank you very much, _by myself_.

By the time autumn finally rolled around, Jake and I were finally finished with our 'project' That was also about the time he started avoiding me, or what I thought was avoiding me at the time. And while I'm not ashamed to say that I was a bit glad he wasn't flirting with me anymore, another part. The part that had formed a somewhat unusual friendship with the gangly younger boy was worried. I couldn't help but wonder if he had finally figured out the signals I'd been giving off all summer, and was taking it rather badly as a result. Rather than sit around like a bump on a log, I did something that proved that I was Charlie's kith and kin. I butted in and went looking for my friend, but at the reservation I kept getting dead ends.

Nobody in that dad-ratted dump (even though it wasn't, I was just mad) would tell me anything, only that he was going through, 'changes.' That was as much as I could coax out of one of his younger cousins who had taken a liking to me before his mother hustled him off that is. Unless he had had several growth spurts in a two week period and as a result was now ten-feet tall and shaggy as Cousin It. I couldn't see the reason, as much as I wanted to make peace with my friend. I knew I couldn't wait much longer. The season was almost at its height by that time and winter would soon be setting in, along with unpredictable mountain weather. Musing on being snowed-in in ones own worst nightmare is not a happy activity. It was with a sad, heavy heart when I knew I had to put the next phase of my plan into motion, or risk losing my one and only chance at freedom. It was not an easy decision and eventually I had to steel my heart to my former friend and go back to town.

Over the months, I had collected necessary odd and ends. A map, a compass, clothes and personal items. Also some non-perishable food, a considerable wad of _funds_ from my excursions and odd-jobs with Jake, allowance from Charlie, pocket change I'd _scrimped_ on trips to the market and errands. All hidden in the back of my closet waiting and rearing to go when I was, at the time I thought I'd never seen a more beautiful sight. Jake's sudden disappearance was a mixed blessing, and I would miss him. But I desperately wanted a life of my own, to really _live _for the first time in my life.

I found out almost by accident that Charlie was going up into the Mountains to some retreat that Jake's family had up there. It had its own lake and supposedly the fishing was so choice the location was kept a family secret, and maybe a few people on the outside they trusted. Since Billy Black and Charlie were as close to best friends as you could get in Forks, I guess with all the crap happening they figured that the trip was long overdue. I'd never seen him so excited, and as an added bonus it was a weekend trip with the possibility of being longer. Since Billy was in business for himself thus could make his own hours and Charlie had vacation time (being a workaholic and all) that unless he used he'd lose. And Fishing was the one excuse that he'd drop everything to do if given the opportunity.

Since I had proved to be a _responsible_ (I still snicker over this.) young lady, not to mention I wasn't really an outdoorsy person thus was permitted to stay behind. He couldn't have made me happier, if the old fart had gift-wrapped the opportunity in sheets of new money stolen from Fort Knox. Then offered the whole mess to me on a solid gold platter on one knee while singing Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas and any other festive gift-giving holiday tune you can think of.

I was only too happy to play the placid little doll, and help with any and all that they asked of me. If it got the pair out of my hair sooner, all the better for me. Finally after suffering though another Friday at school, I came home to find a cheerful note from Charlie and some money for the estimated amount of time he had planned to be gone. I kicked the textbooks under my bed with all the distain I could muster, I wouldn't need them where I was going. Wherever that was.

I calmly took a shower, and then relaxed a bit in front of the old TV in nothing but my favorite robe and a towel for my hair enjoying for the first time since I'd arrived being fully guiltless in the total domination of the remote. Listening to the usual report of the last few weeks, wolf sightings and evidence of kills had escalated, I paid it no mind. I would have eaten but I was far too excited, instead in a gracious gesture. I made Ol'Charlie several days worth of his favorites, knowing how he had gotten used to my cooking and a woman's touch in general around the house. I washed the dishes, dusted a little and straightened the house one last time. I did some last minute packing, walked out to the woodshed, in a small clump of bushes nearby under an old army camouflage tarp. I'd hidden my motorcycle a few days earlier, I'd taken it home from Old Man Black under the pretense I'd wanted to show it to Charlie. Technically it was mine, and he was half-asleep at the time (as usual) so I doubt he even remembered what I'd done. I'd thrown the tarp that was usually kept over it over a pile of misc. junk that Jake and I had piled nearby. Where hopefully it would keep suspicion off long enough, that by the time they found out. I'd be Ancient History, no more like...Mythology.

I happily filled the gas tank with the unleaded out of the red plastic container that was specifically reserved for the lawnmower. Charlie would never miss it, if he did. Well, it'd be too late then wouldn't it?! I locked the house up and threw the keys under a stone next to the front porch. But not before I'd criss-crossed The Tank with a network of long white scratches of various degrees, I would have liked to used the big mallet in the woodshed, Charlie used to split divets of firewood. But I was getting a little antsy, I wanted to get going.Then I began the agonizingly long walk down the long drive and away from town, I didn't want anybody getting curious about what I was doing and spoil my plans. Because if that bike is anything, it's loud as a chainsaw, still is actually. All that walking during summer had an unexpected benefit, I didn't even break a sweat in the cool air.

I passed the lights of the village but I kept my eyes downcast when I passed the road that I knew so well that led to the Cullen and Hales happy little Victorian 'home.' They'd probably be in Alaska by now, with that other 'vegetarian' family. Well I wished them well, and I hoped that they were happy. Even Lord High Fussy-Britches, Edward. I was still a little stung, but in a way I thanked them. What hadn't killed me had made me stronger, literally in this case. I would survive.

I needed no light the moon was full and at it's height and shone on me like a silvery daylight, all around me moved the night things both familiar and not. I kept an eye out for the less savory ones, after all I hadn't come this far to be eaten by a mountain lion or something. Though a small part of me reveled in the joyous freedoms, I had previously been denied. When I had decided enough distance had been put between me and my former place of residence, I had just gotten on my bike. When the forest went still, deathly silent, even quieter than the grave if you can believe it. It's the kind of quiet that you just knew couldn't be a good one, but somehow you still can't find the nerve to be afraid. A small part of me panicked, I knew that Victoria had never been caught and the thought of he coming back for revenge had only crossed my mind sparingly.

Only the train of thoughts became dashed when on a ridge not far away, perfectly silhouetted by the full moon like a great lunar halo. I watched in amazement as the form of a wolf, or a least I thought it was. Only it was several times bigger and built more like a bodybuilder. The massive form lumbered into the forefront and gave a long drawn out howl that rattled and shook the forest around me. Then was answered in the distance buy several more calls of similar pitch and volume. The thing didn't seem to notice me as it perked its ears in that direction, promptly flowing like water back into the shadows.

In that long, mournful song many things and bits of a greater riddle I hadn't even realized I'd known tumbled into place. The tribe not liking the Cullen's, territory issues, reluctance to be open to outsiders even those who had again and again proved trustworthy.

As I started my bike and rode off into the night I gave a silent goodbye, I knew in my heart somewhere in that quiet soul place where all the wisdom of the world is stored. I knew it had been Jake I had seen. A new fully-formed _werewolf_.

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**To be continued...**


	4. Past: Part 2

**_Alright here's Part 2. Hope you like:)!!_**

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Now that I was free of one set of human problems, I found that a whole other set arose entirely. I found that out especially when I managed to find my way to New Orleans, which in my opinion is THE unofficial vampire capital of the world.To put it bluntly, I got a crash course on how the world 'really' works. In-short, short-leyman's terms, humanity is pretty much walking around in its own little waking dream. It has been like that for at least the last thousand years as they've sacrificed practical spiritual knowledge for glorified mechanical progress, and as a result likes to fancy itself as the Rulers of All Creation, Alpha-Omega and top-of-heap kind of thing. To bad humanity doesn't realize it's a heap of dog crap because many of the so-called 'otherworldly' folk, I'm talking fairies, demi-humans and halflings, even _Old Gods_ who really should be shoved back in the index pages of some Brothers Grimm fairytale. Are (for the most part anyway) actually alive and well, fully-existing and perfectly content parading around in front of the 'denial-blinders' that laughingly counts for social interaction in many places. And loving every minute making fun of it as a result, in fact it's so well done. There's a distinct possibility any one person could be related to or at least indirectly know nothing short of, an immortal of some sort. Don't believe me? Well I can't really blame anybody, it's a lot to wrap ones mind about in a relatively short period of time.

Plus, forget about the so-called "species" stereotypes that I learned with the Cullens. Everything I thought I knew pretty much got sliced, diced, minced, thrown in a blender with the liquefy button on and then only to have the entire thing appliance and all, given the ol' heave-ho out the nearest window. Not every vampire or werewolf, coven and clan, solitary or otherwise is out to eradicate the other, believe it or not.

I found that in some places they actually work for each other in highly successful partnerships. For example, I knew a businessman in New Orleans not only was he an Elder Vampire. But he also employed several werewolves as bodyguards since they're pretty much indestructible against most stuff; he even knew their families personally. And on a couple of occasions, I actually saw the brilliant analytical mind that ran a string of highly successful bars and upper-class restaurants, and had a tongue that could turn even the toughest competitor and the table he was sitting into a little pile of mincemeat and sawdust. He could go into a room crowded with their varied kith and kin, pick out any face and call them by name and get a warm smile and a hearty handshake, a hug or some other form of affection in return. Basically, not having to worry about getting torn to little unidentifiable pieces as he would have on the Upper West Coast. I know for a fact, he's even a godfather to several of their cubs, freaky or what?

Hell, I can even one up myself on that account; I knew a vampire and a werewolf who were **married!! **Even stranger, the bride is a distant cousin of Jake's family. What a gimp in that branch of the collective family tree, one you can be sure absolutely _nobody _is going to be hearing about. I know I sure wasn't expecting it! Still, she's a really super lady makes an awesome homemade fudge sundae, the recipe of which I still have and enjoy to this day. I don't make it as good as she does, though.

But didn't I say the real world was a bizarre place to say the least, New Orleans certainly fit the bill nicely it was nothing short of a Vampire Utopia right out of a nineteenth century novel. When I arrived in the city, and began looking for work, I honestly didn't know who was more surprised. _Me_, for finding out that humans actually could work for vampires and not worry about being on somebody's menu. Or _them_for being able to pick out a vampire or a werewolf on sight and not faint at their feet or run screaming into the night for knowing about it in the first place. I knew there was an entire society living amongst humanity, but I was thinking more along the lines of a predator/prey relationship going on. If the Volturi was any indication on the subject, but no. Apparently they might be big stuff in the Old World, but outside of Italy, they're nothing less than a huge joke to the rest of the vampire population. In fact, compared to many vampires in the New World, they only have a scant few holdings. It suddenly made sense why they like to try to force powerful vampires to join them; it's to expand a dwindling powerbase. In reality, they're only holding their breaths to make themselves look big and powerful to their fellows.

There are a handful of younger vampires I know, and they happen to be even individually stronger than the entire collective. It was this so-called inner circle of Elders that took me under its collective wing, even when I was human and after the change.

After I left New Orleans, I traveled around for a while built up a few eclectic friendships with various interesting peoples, saw and did really awesome things, picked up an odd job or three. When my wanderings finally lead me into the one of what I guess at the time could be dubbed, lower middle class neighborhoods. And that was the nice way of putting it; I was at the end of both my wanderlust and my money. I was cut off from any familiar territory, any and all of my allies were back on the East Coast and I wasn't going to sink and mooch off them like the Cullens. In other words I was pretty much screwed. I did manage to find a decent place taking up residence in the disused bell tower of a local parish church. It probably could have rivaled Phoenix in terms of the dust, but it was dry, protected from intruders and had a pretty decent view of the mountainous skyline. I remember even with my keen vampiric eyes I could just make out some posh, upscale mansions in some gated Beverly Hills neighborhood. On Saturdays I liked to stay up and listen to Choir rehearsal prepare for the next morning, they made Heaven proud and me happy as well, that's all I can say.

I often still think back to that sweet little church, for it once and will forever hold an eternally high place in my fondest memories. Amid conversations with Jake, he'd told me stories of the Vision Quests that members of his family had been on down through the generations. Where they basically went out into the wilderness alone for an undetermined amount of time and waited for God or The Great Spirit as they called him to send them a vision relating to their future lives. It was ironic, I think that I would be told that and I would end up there in particular amongst the wilds of the 'urban' wilderness. One that was probably even more savage for it was man itself had created, especially when I had Edward's morbid philosophies dealing with existence in general rattling around like loose marbles upstairs in my brain.

He was utterly convinced that Vampires were soulless; scum of the earth was too good a name for them. If we're so hellish, why does he still continue to cling to his so-called miserable existence within the Dark? In my travels I'd met many fellow creatures of the night, befriended a few, been charmed by some, repelled by others. I never really took the time to consider that particular subject matter; it's something I still really can't understand to tell you the truth. I remember him telling me that on a couple of occasions when we were alone. I remember studying at the Cullens and Hales, minus Edward of course out of the corner of my eyes. Discreetly trying to find some sign or hint of truth to that statement, I don't know what I expected to find. A horn combed into a side part, hooves stuffed into heavy boots or a tail tucked into the back of a pair of Levi's 401. What saw was what I pretty much got, a family of good, honest (if somewhat different) and kind people who were just trying to make their way unobtrusively in the world.

But then again at the time to me, Edward had done nothing short of hanging the moon in my star-filled eyes. Therefore could possibly do no wrong within my mind. When I finally got out on my own, away from his influence I was able to realize how stupid that really was. There I was sitting in a veritable house of God, I was a vampire and yet I really felt no different than when I was alive. I still don't to tell the truth, I mean to say that was to flatly deny everything that Carlsie, Esme and the others had ever done for him even in the smallest ways. Which I'm positive was never done for anything other than out of the utmost love; can a soulless person really do that?! I don't think so.

Many a night I would climb down out of my little turret when all the people had left, and I'd sit in the chapel. I never needed any light with night vision and all; I would do a lot of stuff in the quiet and just simply think. I'd clean the pews, dust the altar and read anything I could lay my hands on from the Hymnals to the magazines that the teenage choir girls had left behind in their balcony. I know it sounds bizarre; I even got to know the Bible really well. God and I seemed to do a lot of talking back then, funny that a vampire would get religion, huh? But this wasn't the Buffyverse; I wasn't going to combust into a ball of fiery dust on hallowed ground regardless how close to Hollywood I was. I actually thanked him for the way things had turned out in my life that Edward had done what he did. Not out of some bizarre sense of love or hate, but that I was able to find myself. To really live according to my own choices, not someone else's.

Food was more of a problem. My body might have been dead, but just like when I was human it still needed physical substance to sustain it. In terms of territory, I was the only vampire in pretty good radius. So feeding off of even a willing human wouldn't have been a huge problem, what with all the Goth and nightclubs in the area chalked full of fake fanged posers. If you were brave enough to venture into a no-man's land full of over sensitized sights and smells, not fun for the beginner by any stretch of the imagination. But that was one thing I still adamantly refused to do, or any kind of animal stray for that matter. Call me crazy, but I just had this phobia that one day I was going to screw up and eat some terminally ill kids treasured house pet or something and get bitten in the butt by karma as a result. Stranger still, in my first few months I did make some decent money that way. I'd go into grocery stores and check bulletin boards, picking out the ones who had rewards posted on them. Then I'd use my keener 'senses' find the pooch or kitty and bring them home then leave cash in hand, wasn't all that hard really. When I could get it, that is.

I was able to find a couple of ethnic butcher shops that still did things the old fashioned way, and catered to unusual (to say the least) client tastes. So, when I ordered nothing but pig or beef blood by the sackful, nobody batted an eye. Also that was the very least of my problems coupled with the fact, I learned the hard way that almost every square inch of L.A. is under one or more overlapping gang turfs. I lost count how many times that I was woken up out of a sound sleep, or interrupted during a meal because of the wail of a fleet of police and or ambulance sirens or hail of gunfire during a frequent gang war. Usually both at the same time amidst those terrible sounds of humanity in hysterical mourning. I learned pretty quickly to lay low, keep out of sight and play on the fact that the locals thought of me as the pretty, homeless girl with the sad smile and never caused trouble.

Needless to say, I had quite a few confrontations with members of our local 'turf protectors,' and I ain't talking about the boys in blue. They would try to jump me in dark alleys, corner me in stores and walk up to me flashing their 'pieces' from under a 'five-finger discounted' brand name something or other trying to look impressive or intimidate me to do what they wanted. Until I flashed certain pearly white parts of my anatomy, razor ones that would be hazardous to anybody's health that chose to annoy me that is. It reminded me of being at the zoo to tell the truth, I was on the receiving end of a bunch of stupid little kids armed with sticks poking me in order to get a reaction. Big mistake! In more ways than one.

At first, a few of them thought they were some weird kind of cosmetic procedure, which usually ended fast though. Especially when I could throw several of them at once through a plate glass window or leave a body-sized crater in a brick wall with little to no effort. One of my favorite things to do was bend those little shitheads said 'pieces' (their guns for the more gutter-minded) right in front of their bruised faces, just to watch them piss their many-sizes too big pants. Several of them actually did that too, so much for big, bad macho men. Then watch them either faint or try to run away tripping one or more times over their 'fashion choices' to get away from me quick enough. I'll never know who started that stupid trend, but it's endlessly amusing to watch the results of it. If they did pass out, I would pick their usually fat wallets of any ill-gotten drug money then use it on food or give it to the church, my strange idea of rent I guess. The vicar never seemed to question it though, he'd just smile and nod and chalk it up to divine providence than move on with life. I sometimes wondered if he suspected I was there, but I never saw anything to the support that theory.

That was how my life went for the next few years, not totally bad but not really good either. I don't know why I never used any of my resources to return to New Orleans. But I figured, it had more vamps per square inch that anywhere else I'd ever seen. Two's company, Three's a crowd, but that one more was just too too much for the old girl. Even in the midst of the neurotic earthly chaos, I was somewhat reluctant to leave my safe little island of heavenly peace. However fate had other plans for me, one balmy summer evening in late June that I first received inkling of that which would dramatically change the course of my life yet again. For some reason or another, I'd come down out of my hidey-hole proceeding to lounge in a large niche conveniently placed just behind the main altar. Just lying there listening to nothing in particular other than simply the lilt of numerous human voices using the chapel for an evening prayer group, maybe I was finally starting to succumb to loneliness. Don't really know or care, other than the fact two female voices quickly discerned themselves from the rest of the din that was buzzing like a hive of hyperactive bees in my sensitive eardrums.

Out of sheer curiosity (and nothing better to do), I tuned the latter out and concentrated solely on the former. Peering over the side of my current hiding place, I saw two local schoolgirls, pretty Hispanic cousins who were regulars with their families on weekends. They had their backs to me scooting their folding chairs closer to the other; leaning over their shared Bible (this place was short on funds alot when I lived there). Pretty much ignoring the droning adults discussing the night's current and even more boring topic (something to do with the New Testament, I think) not that I blamed them, so was I. And wondered what could be so interesting in the Good Book that could possibly be worth blushing and giggling over, when one of their heads shifted angles, I had my answer. In the age old tradition of camouflage there was a magazine stuck behind it, the article showed a thin, but good looking foreign man in casual clothes. I remember it so well because the shirt he was wearing was unbuttoned showing very nice toned pecs and a six-pack.

_"Madre dios, I can't believe Gackt's _that_ good looking, can you?" _One said with an excited accented whisper. It wasn't directed at me, but I agreed wholeheartedly.

The other girl discreetly elbowed her cousin, when she saw her mother give her a curious glance. It was pretty impressive how she held that unwavering 'poker-face' until the moment of danger passed. Then the solemn look quickly changed into being just as excited as the other. _"I know."_ She giggled, and then heaved a small, dramatic sigh. _"I wanted to go to the concert, but you know Mommi and Poppi would never give me the money for that. If it's not school or church related, it's a waste of time to them. Even if my birthday is coming up, but even if I can't go I still wish he'd come to the neighborhood, sweep me off my feet and carry me off into the sunset to marry me."_

The first girl nodded in understanding, _"Mama is the same way. Still, it doesn't mean we can't dream. And I SO agree with you there with the last part, any straight female would want a piece of that eye candy. I know I do."_

_"Not unless I get to him first."_Said the other. Then caught each other's eyes, shared a mischievous grin beforehuddling closer into a conspiratorial bubble, their formerly audible conversation became a mystery to me.

I didn't think much about it at the time, it slipped from my mind until several days later I got the one of the biggest shocks of my un-life. I think it would have dropped me dead alone from the surprise if I wasn't pretty much a stiff already. In the early morning hours taking a simple walk enjoying one of the first really quietly and crime-free evenings that I'd had in a while. Everything was so quiet, except for the occasional cricket chirp and the hum of the distant highway. Until I was scared out of my skin when a brand-new top-of-the-line smoky colored V12 Enzo Ferrari, suddenly tore out from the darkness, squealing and roaring down the one main stretch of road. Before finally coming to a halt amid the stanch of burnt rubber and exhaust heat practically at my feet, even though it was really about twenty feet away.

I was even more floored when the driver side door suddenly flew open to reveal a very richly-dressed man who for some reason I couldn't fathom at the time was wearing lightly tinted sunglasses at two o'clock in the morning. He was also extremely agitated because he stomped over to the front of the car and popped the hood with a loud grunt. Only to hear him loudly curse in some foreign language in the darkness at something he saw there. I couldn't help but smile, just something about him amused me to no end. He just didn't seem like the type of person to do that. Then suddenly I began to realize to worry for this stranger's safety, this neighborhood wasn't the best of places even in the daylight. I was a vampire, the seedier locals knew by now to leave me alone by now. Even if they didn't realize what I was exactly as long as they kept their distance. They knew they'd keep all their appendages in place that way.

Plus this guy looked wealthy, too wealthy. All leather and white gold jewelry, I couldn't figure out why he was wearing a jacket in summer. Still he looked like he had stepped fresh off Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. Not to mention the type of easy loaded bird that the locals just lived and loved to pluck down to the marrow leaving nothing but a few specks of bonemeal, and that would have been generous. Sure enough, I wasn't the only one who had spotted the late-night visitor. Unfortunately, he was also one of the higher foot soldiers in one of our more ruthless local gangs, he was packing and heading in a direct shot toward the unsuspecting 'victim.'

I was a fast-moving rocket in under a second, the idiot never knew what hit him. He flew in a surprisingly graceful arc then collapsed in a groaning heap onto the soft turf of somebody's lawn, a pretty cushy landing compared to what the bastard really deserved. Not to mention he had practically sailed over the head of "Glasses" as I had dubbed him, who then whirled to face me with a 'What the hell?' expression on his surprisingly pretty face. I only had a moment to realize that he was Asian at least, before he registered the tire-iron in my hand (what I had confiscated off Mr. Macho). The only thing I could do next was dodge a barrage of incredibly fast fists, that I was just as surprised about being on the receiving end of. Namely, because I could smell quite clearly that my attacker was human, yet his reflexes were almost flawless.

Still, I dodged them easily just as quickly and even had enough time to send my other would-be assailant flying back into his little crater nearby. I didn't want to do it, but Glasses had left me no choice as I swept down using the iron to knock his feet out from under him. He found himself flat on his back in the middle of the street he gaze zeroed in on my weapon and my smug smile with a surprised daze. I couldn't resist wagging my finger at him silently scolding like an errant child.

"Stay." I commanded. He fixed me with a bewildered expression, nodded but said nothing. Silently, I made my way over to where my own 'victim' lay. I put my weapon under his chin to turn his face up to my eyes which I had made to light up like soldering embers, and there was no mistaking the sharpness of my fangs in the dim light. Plain and simple, I ment business. "Haven't I told you and your little friends before not to bother me or anything that's mine?" I asked sweetly. Even though His face was a mask of pure hatred, underneath I could hear his heart hammering a frightening rhythm. I shoved the bar closer into his Adam's Apple to prove my point, "Now are you going to be good and scoot off willingly, or do I have to play _rough_?"

He said nothing, his eyes never left me as he scooted backward onto his haunches like some demented crab. Then proceeded to run off into the night, he never looked back. I wasn't sorry to see him go. As I turned back to my unlikely wayward companion, I was pleased to see that he had heeded my advice and hadn't moved from his seat on the ground. I smiled politely, threw the tire-iron in some nearby bushes and offered my hand.

"Sorry to scare you like that. Didn't mean to be so dramatic too, I just didn't want you to get jumped." I said apologetically.

He didn't look like he believed me at the time, but took the assistance albeit reluctantly. Though when our skin met, you should have seen the look that crossed his face. I didn't know weither to laugh in amusement, or just pull it free and walk away. Now my body temp isn't exactly the arctic temp of other vampires, it's still a little chilly. As reluctant as he had been not to take the hand in the first place, he was that much more to let go now that he had it.

He took a good long look at me, a long one, there wasn't much to see at the time I confess. I was dressed in what I'd scrounged from the local Salvation Army. Not much, a pair of black stir-up pants, low heeled ankle boots, and a dusty blue sweatshirt that was a couple sizes too big. But I will say they might have been old and well-worn but they were clean, there was a rectory on the side of the church that had an outside basement door that I found easy to get into and use the facilities from time to time. My hair was pulled back in a messy braid and I know there was wispeys sticking out here and there. After inspecting my hand over and over in his as if he couldn't believe what was going on, his free hand went up to pull the sunglasses out of his eyes.

I felt I had just intercepted that girls' wish.

Because it was my turn to be surprised now, the face I was staring at was totally Japanese. And it belonged to the guy whose abs I remembered, I'd been ogling a week before in church. I felt myself say a little heartfelt prayer for the transgression, before I was looking into a pair of the prettiest, most luminous blue eyes I'd ever seen. We studied each other a moment more, when a voice broke the silence. My own.

"I'm sorry. As much as you like it, if I'm going to help you I'm going to need that back." I said softly, motioning to my captured appendage. He dropped it as if it were a hot poker, then stuck his hand in his pockets and dropped into a more arrogantly casual stance. In the darkness I could easily see the light blush he tried to hide. Those girls were right, he was cute! "Can I look under your hood? I have experience with these types of cars."

He looked like he didn't believe me at first, but didn't argue. Then he nodded, motioning to his now dead automobile. "So, who was that anyway?" I heard a low voice ask, as I started my inspection.

"Who?" I asked half-distracted.

"The guy you just beat the crap out of."

"Oh _him,_ that was one of our local hooligans. Names Angel, though he's anything but." I replied casually over the battery.

"What's yours?" I heard him ask lowly, almost timidly. I'm sorry, I know its not really polite, but he was one of the most famous men in the world. There was just something about that I found incredibly amusing, though I bit my lip and said nothing.

"Isabella. Call me Bell or Bella, your choice." I said, my voice must have sounded funny because before my night vision finally spotted the problem. "There you are, little bugger." He watched in astonishment as I pulled out the source of the problem, a gunked-up spark plug.

"I'm…" He started, but didn't have a chance as I cut him off at the start.

"Gackt. Yeah, I know." I smiled at the look of unabashed surprise on his face, as I wiped off the mess with a loose end of my sweatshirt, not caring if I got my clothes dirty. "You're the Japanese rock star that's having a couple of concerts in downtown LA at the dome." At his next look of, "How the hell?" I gave him a toothy grin, and he blinked a couple of times before rubbing the bridge of his nose, shaking his head. As if he couldn't believe what he'd seen. Not that I blamed him, when I looked in the mirror sometimes, neither could I. "This might be a crappy neighborhood, but there are a few fans of yours in the local population." I replied, I blew on the plug for good measure. Before turning back to my inspection to double-check if anything else was wrong. There wasn't.

I popped the hood rod and let it fall back into place with a loud, 'click.' Turning back to Gackt I saw him reaching into his pocket fishing around for something, it didn't take Einstien to figure out what he was trying to do. It was a sweet gesture, but the very thought of it felt cheap to me. I didn't do anything that any normal good person wouldn't have done. In that neighborhood, that kind of thing was few and far between. Point was it was there all the same.

I put an only semi-dirty hand (after I had wiped it on my shirt) onto his probably more than I ever would see in my eternal lifetime coat. He looked up at me, and I shook my head softly. "Don't bother, I won't accept it. You're fixed, it should start now and get out of here as fast as you can. This isn't a place for someone like you. If you tell me where you were headed, maybe I can steer you in the right direction."

He looked at me strangely for a moment, but named a place that was all the way in West Hollywood. It didn't surprise me, there had been a detour on the highway and he'd been forced to make an alternate route apparently. He'd been to LA many times before and like a typical guy, thought he could get there by taking a random shortcut. Typical. Still, I smiled anyway and pointed into the distance where a string of lights as neat as a landing strip rimmed the ridge then rattled off a series of quick turns and street names to get him out of the Pit of Hell, I called home.

I was just about to slip away when I heard something coming from the opposite direction, a loud buzzing noise. Next I saw the headlights, and the ten-ton hunk of metal it was connected too heading straight for us. Or rather just him as I was across the street by that time.

"LOOK OUT!" I screeched heaving him with all the vampiric strength I possessed a safe distance nearby. Gackt didn't even have time to blink as he landed in the soft grass, and the next thing I knew I was seeing stars of the internal kind. Along with the searing pain that comes from massive internal damage.I heard the sickening crunch of my spine and the roaring of blood in my ears as the car hit me dead-on, then darkness.

I came too a few seconds later, it doesn't take very long to heal with somebody of my power. But the metallic tang of blood in my nostrils, and the wetness under my fingertips told me I had suffered quite a bit of blood loss. I rolled over and little shards of glass rained off my shoulders, I looked up and could just see the taillights retreating in the distance.

"Oh my God! I can't believe you're still alive!" I heard a panicked male voice, I vaguely remembered. I wanted to bite back, of course I was but I didn't say anything. I was too occupied with the screeching sound of the car coming back for a repeat, only in reverse this time. I felt him tugging and tugging, grumbling something about dead weight and not helping matters any. I realized he was trying to save me, I don't know why I thought it at the moment. But I was totally touched. One big yank, a thud later and I felt a huge draft. My nose almost became a bumper print on the business end a Chrysler, when I decided enough was enough.

Unleashing the full demonic fury of a powerful pissed-off vampire is not something you want to experience in any since of the word, and at the time I was livid. In a leap that could have made Spiderman proud, I was on the roof, then stomped down on the hood making a pot hold the size of the Grand Canyon in the middle of the dingy, brown finish. Before I proceeded to completely rip it off in a single swipe, yeah I was not a happy camper. All the while, the car swerved and careened madly up and down the road, before finally turning tin a complete circle and stopping abruptly with aloud screech! I was so preoccupied with inflicting as much damage as inhumanly possible, that I was flung off by the driver's wild careening, the demolished hood landing with a loud metallic 'KLANG!' next to my ear. Whichever chronies were inside, safe to say I probably scared the little bastards shitless. Because the half-demolished car fled off into the night and we never saw it again. All's well that ends well.

Then I had another problem to contend with. "Where's my shirt?" I asked to nobody in particular. Because I was in the middle of the road with only one shoe and in my sports bra sitting nearby a pool of my own blood. I heard stumbling and out from behind the miraculously unharmed sportscar, came Gackt with my top clutched in his hand like a lifeline. He'd accidently pulled off my shirt while trying to pull me to safety. He looked like a fish out of water, gaping and wheezing, pointing at no one particular thing. Me, mostly. As he tried to form thoughts, words sentences and or anything remotely communication wise.

"_MY GOD!!_ That was…you just…with the leap and the…And why the _hell _aren't you dead?" He choked in astonishment.

"I am. In a manner of speaking." I replied. At his questioning look, I continued. "Un-dead, actually. I'm a vampire. One who'd like to get dressed now, pretty please."

Wasn't exactly the most subtle thing I could think of, but he was smart and quickly handed me the requested item. "Sorry." He mumbled, stuffing his hands back in his pockets struggling to keep his eyes on my face. "I wasn't staring- -I mean peeking- - I mean ogling…that is…I mean, why would I? Not that I wouldn't - - that _any_ man wouldn't…it's just, you know…"

It was SO cute the way he flushed crimson, I think I was totally smitten with him by then. So I decided to cut the poor guy some slack, it was only fair. "You should probably quit while you're ahead." I supplied helpfully as I finished pulling my errant garment over my head. Then started hunting for my shoe.

"I guess I should Thank you for saving my life." Gackt said lowly. Sweet, exotic _and _naïve, I love that in a man.

"They weren't after you. I've been a thorn in the side of the local gangs since I came here. They must have finally gotten fed up and decided to up the stakes, which for me isn't a good thing." I exclaimed casually, flipping my hair over my shoulder. I caught his disbelieving stare then, as I leaned over to pick up the sheet of metal. "Didn't you notice when the car came back it wasn't aiming at you or your car. At least I cost whoever it was there deductable, and it's gonna take a lot of pretty creative explaining to get someone to bang my ass print out of the grill. So, I feel vindicated."

"So, you're really a…" He started.

I smiled indulgently, unabashedly showing the full expanse of my one prominent feature. "Vampire? 'Fraid so. Don't worry, I don't bite. Not humans, anyway. That's a little vampire joke, by the way."

"I got it." He shifted nervously from foot to foot, looking at me and the car both. As if he wanted to make a quick get away, but couldn't resist further confirming his so-called "discovery." I saw him reach into his shirt and fumble around a moment before pulling out a medium sized silver cross. Then his lovely blue eyes met mine, and I felt a warm thrill go down my spine. "So, considering what you did to that car, I suppose even with _this_…If you'd wanted to hurt me, I couldn't have stopped you, could I?"

In the span of thirty seconds, I presented him with the hood of my would-be murderer, neatly tied in a bow.

It was Gackt's turn to smile somewhat bewildered at me, though it was a warm one. "What I thought." He said eying my handiwork with a professional eye. "Not bad, by the way."

"Thank you. But you'd better go, I don't want to get you in the middle of a hail of _gun-fire_ next." My stomach gave a loud rumble, and I remembered I had more pressing concerns. "I've got to go home anyway and try and find something to eat." I gave a little wave, and had just turned away.

"Where are you staying, I'll give you a lift?" He replied quickly.

I shrugged. "Not anywhere in particular."

"So, you're homeless." He said pointedly.

I eyed him with a hard, golden gaze that could have given a glacier frostbite, "I prefer solitary, thank you very much."

"Solitary, then ." He corrected quickly. He obviously didn't want to piss me off, which at the moment wouldn't have been a too-terribly bad idea. But then continued hesitantly. "So you wanna go dinner with me?"

I looked at him speechless for a few seconds and before my brain caught up to my mouth and spoiled the whole thing. "Know any good butcher shops?" I asked.

That's pretty much how Gackt and I met, I spent the whole of that car ride in an eerie reenactment of Edward and my ride down from that first ill-fated shopping trip. Only this time, I was on the receiving end of the 'Twenty Questions' game. He took me to his hotel, the Manager didn't even bat an eye when he saw one of his most high-profile guests sneaking in a girl wrapped up his coat. I don't think Room Service will never be the same though. Gackt loaned me some of his clothes so I could shower, he stuffed my bloodied clothes into a trash bag. Then paid a passing Hispanic maid about a hundred dollars to get rid of the evdience. She took the whole thing and never batted an eye, probably got these types of requests all the time. I never saw that particular outfit again. Pretty soon, for the first time in a long time, I was well-fed, safe and I didn't have to worry about getting woken up or jumped one or mulitible times in one night. He was nothing but a gentleman, never touched me, only wanted to talk about anything and everything about me. I have a feeling he was still a little nervous about both being close confines with me and the whole thing in general, like being in a cage with a wild animal, I guess. I fell asleep on his spare bed, and was awakened the next afternoon by the knock of a woman. She looked more like a high class attendant delivering a change of some expensive looking new clothes from one of the many stores in the lobby, she eyed me oddly. But didn't seem surprised at my being there. I didn't find out until later that Gackt's No. 1 hobby at the time was single-handedly inventing the Japanese equivelant of one man speed dating.

We spent the next few days together, and I was introduced to a whole entirely new world. One of such daily grandour and casual opulance that even the Cullen's long-lived minds would have been turned to mush at the sight. I accompanied him to many business meeting, photo-ops and such, pointed out with ease and to his further astonishment. What all sorts of people were thinking, and who he should avoid, as a kind of mini-thank you (with a little bit of discreet mind probing)I even saved him from signing a bad record deal that would have cost him not only several million in losses, but would have made him the equivelant of a modern day indentured servant to the party-of-the-first-part. All dressed up to the hilt in new fashionable black sunglasses, and clothes all under a huge parasol the size of a small patio umbrella. He took me shopping (which unlike with Alice, I didn't find a chore) and never seemed to get tired of watching me interact with ordinary people. I even got a front row at his last concert, backstage his friends didn't know what to make of the pale, silent girl. At the end of his scheduled visit, the thought of leaving me behind to once again roam the streets seemed suddenly unbearable to him. So he asked me one point-blank evening, 'How would I feel about traveling?' It took me only three hours to run across LA, grab my bags and motorcycle out of the Church and get back to the hotel.

I never looked back.

The first week I lived with him back in Japan I moved into a small room in his beautiful house, that was a mansion by the cramped standards of the non-existent zoning laws. And when he found out that most of the tradtional Hollywood hype concerning vampires, like where mirrors and reflective surfaces were concerned were pretty much fake. Next thing I knew all he did was follow me around his place with a digital camera or camcorder, everything I did, even if it was just opening the fridge was utterly fascinating to him. Gackt studied me like a piece of fine art at a museum, or a scholar deciphering the lines of a classic poem... Aw, forget it, it can't sound palatable no matter how you slice it, I was a bug in the proverbial bell jar. One of his favorites activities, and mine as well I kinda confess. Was raiding his closets and storage rooms emptying all of them of piles of all-kinds of old stage props and flamboyant theatrical costumes. It amused me no end when I found not only were they his, but alot of them were feminine. Found out pretty quick, unlike American music J-Rock is a very inclusive lot, along with the fan service that is. (Drool.)

I was Gackt's little doll, I allowed it because I wanted to dress-up in beautiful clothes fit for royalty, and it didn't have to be Halloween. I can't tell you how many piles of pictures he has of me cosplaying in Harajuku as what else, myself. Amongst all sorts of weird, chronically moody teenage-wanna-be _rebels_ who were playing around pretending to be something all the while not realizing they were standing right next to that _real _thing. It wasn't all that bad really more amusing than anything else, what can I say I've developed that 'immortal' sense of humor when it comes to my former kind. Even today Gackt's still a notorious shutterbug, to tell the truth only for a much different reason.

I was shy at first, and I would hang out in the back away from anybody who came over. I busied myself with Gackt's pet dog who in a twist of irony, was named Belle. Along with his cat, a gigantic Maine Coon named Mei. They were attached to my heels wherever I went, despite popular belief animals don't avoid most vamps. It's like people, it depends on the person. Renee had never allowed pets like this in her nice clean house, the ones I was I just ended up killing. They were only goldfish, so don't go giving me the evil eye. You might think it was beneath my dignity to be a 'kept' person by anybody's standards and almost like a pet myself. I didn't really see it that way, Gackt was kind to me.

He treated me very well, didn't care what I was. And didn't take advantage of me, for which I was insanely grateful. It amazed me how much different the Japanese are than Americans, I fit in better with them than I did in my birth country. We would have continued on like that, until one day I met one of Gackt's old friends. At first I thought, he was a she. That's how convincing he looked. But when I caught a whiff of him, I was floored. It was a really pretty man, in a skirt(?) His name was Mana. He was one of the quietest people, I'd ever seen. But then I wasn't exactly a little chatterbox myself, we ended up sitting next to each other during a photoshoot the two men were having. We took one look at each other, and in an instant found no words were necessary for us to communicate. We liked each other immediately.

Mana was also to play a very significant role on my first steps to stardom actually. It was because of his signature clothing line Moi-Meme-Moitie, what it means I don't have the foggiest. I don't speak French, all I know is that the particular brand is nothing but Gothic Lolita and Aristocrat. I often suspected like the priest, that Mana's demeanor wasn't totally shy. There was just an aura almost cat-like about him, one that seemed to just know, _everything_. Though I lived in his home, Gackt encouraged me to make friends and Mana was one of my first and dearest. He called and invited me to a shoot of the Gothic Lolita Bible, one of the most popular fashion magazines in Japan. He is in almost every one and I was interested in the movement itself, still on the verge of finding my own fashion identity and all. That and I wasn't the only person in the industry with cosmetic 'fangs' for the sake of art, so what if it wasn't true in my case. So, as a result nobody looked twice, I didn't hesitate. Though when I got there, I didn't know what to think. The place was in chaos, I managed to track Mana down and find out what the problem was. Apparently, the model who was supposed to do the bulk of the outfits along with Mana had bailed without warning.

I wanted to help, but I didn't know what to do at the time. I thought it was because of the clothes themselves while I was up to inspecting them, they weren't all that bad. While admiring myself in a mirror with one of my favorites I got distracted the director, Mana and the chief photographer all saw me and had a collective brainstorm. And well the rest as they say is history. Not surprisingly, that particular issue is now one of the most popular sales in the company's history and considered an Ultra-rare collector's item. I still have mine squirreled away on my bookshelf, where nobody can find it. I like to still look at it every now and again. All I can say is, Rosalie, eat your heart out!

That was just the first of a snowball effect, that has lasted up until this particular moment. I looked up at the faces some happy, curious or annoyed all expectant and currently sitting in my living room waiting for an explanation and my fiancée at my side, our fingers entwined his loving reassurance at my back. One way or another, this wasn't going to be pretty. So, I took a deep breath and began the best way I knew how. At the beginning…

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**_Well I holed you liked this and it wasn't too bad. If it was, please leave a review and tell me how I can improve. Thanks!_**


	5. Reunion

**_Hi everybody:D!! I'm SO sorry, I took forever on this. I got caught up with work and totally got waylaid with this next update! But anyway, thanks for sticking with me and I heard the tragic news about Pixel Alice. That totally sucks, a moment of silence for a great author and all around nice person!!_**

**_(Moment of silence.)_**

**_Well in leau of events and her getting grounded off the computer for the time being. I humbly dedicate this new extra, long chapter to her and her best bud Tic-Tac101. Standard disclaimer of only secondhand-ownership of nothing but this plot, everything else belongs to everybody else. I hope you like and on with the fic!!_**

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You know the old expression, "Things couldn't possibly get any worse." Well I'll tell you, according to Murphy's Law of Averages and that little bastard called karma in general, no matter what it will _always_ be against you. I guarantee that if you use that particular expression in a bad situation. Congratulations, because then it _will _get a HELL of a LOT worse!

Though he and I have come a long way to our current 'working-relationship' as I call it. Sometimes it makes me wonder what's worse. God's sense of humor or his sense of acute irony, maybe both are one in the same, who knows? Well either way you slice it, they're both pretty sick. When I lived in Arizona, back in the Once-Upon-A-Time-whenever-land of my long-ago youth. I would lay awake nights just pondering what tortures he'd think up to dump onto my doorstep the next day. More snubbing from the popular clique, a supposedly-careless leg thrown in my way during P.E., and my all-time favorite the classic 'swirly' in the girl's room for my lunch money. Oh what fun! And that was only if certain people were feeling bored, I never told Renee.

Because her idea of _help _(and I use the term very loosely) consisted in insisting that my 'little friends' come over for cookies and milk. Not actually mind you, but there was always an alterior motive Renee wanted to live her little life's fantasy through me by playacting the 'rich kids' were my friends. More often then not, I'd be the laughing stock of the school the next day. Simply because I was an easy target, she hindered more than she helped nine times out of ten. Well what doesn't break you makes you stronger, so they say?!

I wonder what would happen if I went to a High School reunion now? I'm thirty-eight by human standards, (not that the world at large knows it) and I don't look a day over nineteen. I take after Gackt in that aspect, _nobody_ outside his surviving family knows his actual age. Well his human one anyway. I can think of a few _lifted _faces I'd like to rub it into, not that I can. It's still a nice thought, I've been laughing all the way to the bank ever since I left America. How's that for progress?

But still, as I looked around the room, glancing at each face in turn taking in every individual expression. From a unique person whom I had both known, and had grown to love as family in my childish naiveté. All in all, they had taught me to love without predjustice, which was a priceless gift I could never repay. Overall, they meant no real harm, so I would hear them out as best I could.

However the tension in the room was so thick you could have cut it with a metaphorical knife and spread it on bread served with turkey, cheese and a side of mayo. Most of it coming from my least favorite person at the moment, Edward. Who was currently sitting directly opposite Gackt and myself. On an identical sofa the only obstruction between us was five feet and an inlaid mahogany coffee table that Hyde-kun had ordered special from Venice, Italy for us as a housewarming gift. One that I wouldn't hesitate to break into big needle-like bits of sharpness and thus pull a 'Buffy' and pincushion it into certain parts of other people's anatomies in order to save my fiancée if need be.

Sorry Hyde, sometimes you gotta do what ya gotta do.

Yet there we were all in various states of sprawl in a horseshoe shaped semi-circle reflecting all the love of a Nuclear Arms Reduction Summit at the UN. I mentally rolled my eyes towards heaven, cursing my ill-luck. Everyone was equally as silent as Gackt and I, because honestly not one person was really all that sure how to break the awkward tension. I mean they all came with the good intention of seeing me again after all these years. Then Prince Charming flies off the deep end and tries to tear my fiancée's face off. After that just saying "Hi!" then kicking back and just shooting the breeze won't quite cut it.

Esme is a true mother in every sense of the word, with the majority of us being her "children," so to speak. She graciously stepped up to the plate and did all the work breaking the ice for us, I love that woman!

"I was noticing your home, it's very beautiful. When was it built?" She said in that quiet way of hers.

I nodded. "Thank you. It's called Belle Chere, it's from around seventeen seventy-seven. I know it's not exactly ethnic, but its home."

I smiled reassuredly at her perfectly happy to talk about this particular and 'safe' subject matter, which was also one of my favorites. This place Gackt and I had fallen in love with on a trip to North Carolina, it was rundown and up for auction. We pooled our resources then outbid two historical societies, a Tool company, and what I think was a representative of Wal-Mart Corp amongst other things. But I never had a chance to relay the information.

"Really?!" Carlise broke in, suddenly animated. "I think I attended a party here back in the eighteen-fifties, it's from The Carolina's right?"

I nodded, motioning to encompass the whole of the house. "Yes, it is. It took a lot of work to restore and get over here. But I don't think it turned out too bad, it was more of a labor of love than anything."

He nodded, and was a about to say something else, when a more smooth, masculine voice broke into the conversation in slightly accented English from next to me. "Bella koi, I hate to nit-pick in front of company, but I feel left out of the loop." Gackt said, eying my 'parents' in an interested sort of way.

He really doesn't speak anything other than Japanese often, though he knew several other languages. So, at first I really didn't register it as him. While on the other hand my cheeks did a passable impression of a blooming pink rose, I just really wanted to slap my forehead. I was more mortified than I cared to admit, being so completely engrossed with staying erect on my own precarious emotional perch, I had neglected one of the most basic formalities of hostessing. The introduction.

As I've said, he knew about my 'family,' he just didn't have a face for the names in his memory bank. Mentally picking up the itty-bitty pieces of my shattered dignity off the parlor floor, I smiled sheepishly.

"Gomen-nasai dearling, I'm sorry..."

Then proceeded to rattle off each person's name and a short biography like an assembly line, going from the farthest to the closest, which also happened to be a sulking Edward. In turn each person responded accordingly to their personality and mannerisms. Carlise and Esme as heads of the family, nodded their heads in a show of formal Japanese greeting in leau of the traditional bow. Which my fiancee returned it equally as respectful. I heaved a mental sigh; they seemed to like each other, one hurdle surmounted.

Rosalie however looked up at the sound of her name pulled from where she seemed to be scanning over the room in a quick pass with sour pout an equally quick, "Hi."

What was her problem, _this time_? I wondered.

A sharp contrast to her husband and Alice who were almost trampolineing off the couch cushions with excitement, I don't think they really cared about the whom. Rather over the prospect of adding another new member to the family, if he was cute _and_ famous so much the better, at least in Alice's case. Emmett was the only one who made the effort to close the distance between us, he heaved his big person out of his comfortable seat next to wifey-poo pro-offering his massive hand for Gackt to shake. Which he did, it was like a mirror across the miles with those two they were giving each other the biggest grins. Really wasn't a big shocker there, similar personality traits, what more can I say?!

Next Alice just boldly scooted up right next to the pair stating, "Hiya! I'm Alice Hale, nice to meet ya. Can I have an autograph?" Then promptly whipped out a 'Le Miserable' CD and a marker pen from some hidden crevice on her person.

Esme instantly grabbed the back of her tactless daughter's fashion forward shirt, Alice snapped back like an overstretched Slinky. As Esme quietly hissed something in her ear far too low for us to hear. Whatever it was Alice was completely clueless just sitting there looking hopelessly confused, as if she really couldn't figure out what she'd possibly done wrong. Jasper and Carlise just sunk lower in their seats mortified. Gackt just gave me a funny look, and I about died again, this time of _laughter_.

Even his skin seemed to be putting as much distance as it could between himself and Alice. Because Jasper took a couple of discreet scootches away from his wife. Before looking up from his scrunched-up half-crouch, leaned in and offered a hand to shake as Emmett had done.

"Hello, I'm Jasper Hale." He made no move to physically acknowledge his significant other, even his voice sounded a little strained at when he pronounced their shared last name.

Gackt only nodded, before side glancing Alice rather quickly. If I were him, I'd be afraid of catching her eye too.

"The husband?" He asked politely.

Jasper gave a tight little nod, then that was the end of that short conversation.

Then came the part I'd been dreading since everyone had set foot indoors, no hell, for years even! Now it was Edward's turn, oh joy and rapture! _**UGH and ARGH!!**_ For that one. If I've said it once I'll say it again, this just wasn't my day. Everything just seemed to become deathly quiet at that moment, as if the very air, no, time itself were holding it's breath for the potentional clashing of these two superpowers. Everyone all exchanged a look and was quiet a very tense moment, waiting for who would make the first move and react accordingly. Edward slowly turned to look at the group and spoke for the first time since the warning from Esme.

"Edward."

It wasn't a greeting or an introduction, just a matter-of-fact statement. As if somebody had just announced a political amendment or something as he held out a lazy hand for Gackt to shake. He made no move to get up and move closer out of courtesy. Just the glint in his eye made me weary, as I realized the cheeky little bastard was actually _daring_ Gackt to take it. The time for sizing each other up had long since passed apparently; Edward was drawing my fiancée into his little corner. It was like watching a crazy person dangle steak meat through the bars of a hungry tiger's cage, though I couldn't tell who was who in this so-called 'game'. Either way, I knew somebody had the potentional to lose an arm or worse despite restrictions.

My mouth almost opened in shock at the audacity, Gackt's eyes threw a couple of invisible shuriken at Edward when he realized this too. But to his credit he didn't back down, rather he rose to the challenge. Literally.

This time in front of the astonished stares of my family and my own prideful one, and maybe a little smug too. Which only increased at least a thousand-fold if not more, when like a White Knight facing down a fire-breathing dragon in a Grimm Brothers Fairytale. Gackt took it in a firm grip and slowly shook, up and down. While Edward scowled, I was mentally screaming _'Yes! Yes! YES!! In your face!!' _Purely for my fiancée's behalf of course, never for my own. Ahem...Anyway, you could have roasted an elephant on the size of the dagger that Edward was sending Gackt's way. I just got the feeling that battle lines were being redrawn in the sand in that mental stand-off, only this time for much bigger stakes.

Because lightening seemed to flash between their eyes, as if each wanted to incinerate the other by thought alone. Which I didn't doubt was the case, in the least. Momentarily, I wondered if it was possible to get electrocuted seeing as Gackt and I had yet to change out of our now merely semi-damp clothes. In no mood for a mess, I simply hooked a finger into a back belt loop and gave a slight tug of my own. It both wasn't near capable to stop him if he or Edward decided a nostril flare or a hair out of place would put more bugs up their pants, and start that darling sumo match-to-be all over again. Or what I was capable of dishing out to physically slow them down.

But my dearling isn't a smart boy for nothing, after all he's marrying me isn't he? He felt my intent and obediently planted his posterior back next to mine, where I happily made a show of almost draping myself over him like a contented cat. If I had been any prouder of him, I really would have been purring.

I happily introduced my fiancée with a dramatic flourish worthy of his star status.

"And everyone this is Camui MS Gackt, or just Gackt if you prefer. My _fiancee_." (I love saying that!)

I openly scowled back at Edward. I subtly maneuvered the sparkling beacon on my hand into clear view so Mr. Nonchalant could see. Hell, I don't think the Hubble Telescope could have missed it. All the while silently wondering if I glared hard enough the earth would yield conveniently open up and swallow him whole thus solving all my problems in one fell swoop. But the earth didn't submit to my ocular command; I had to opt for staring at him instead just daring him to make a move myself. While he stared right back at me albeit vacantly studying me as if my skin were suddenly transparent and he could finally see into my mind, and read my thoughts and see my so-called transgressions.

Jasper, too. He wasn't helping the situation much either, by being nothing short of an emotional tuning fork for the tension Edward was practically radiating. As usual. Not to mention, the sour feeling of just how bad that special 'talent' of his had irked me came rushing back full force. But I managed to stifle it before I could add anymore fuel to the proverbial fire; I really wanted to call him out on it. God Almighty, I did. I mean the one thing vampire's have in abundance, is nothing short of, you guessed it, time.

He really needs to get over his physco-emotional boo-boo's and rein it all in. I'm surprised he hasn't done anything to Alice yet, knowing her she could probably see it coming a mile off though. I mean he's had what, like a _century_ to get over it? I loved the guy like a brother, but that very same lack of control had almost ended my life once before at my ill-fated eighteenth birthday party. However...

I was nineteen, eternally two years older than Edward now. But closer in age to when I had changed Gackt.

Maybe I should be thanking him? He saved me from a big mistake and gave me a chance for something better. When life gives you lemons, make grape juice then sit back and let the world wonder how you did it, so the saying goes.

I don't know how he managed to break that bitter little staring contest, either he was smarter than we thought, or was cut from a much stronger, thicker hide than he let on. Or just plain chose to be that oblivious to specific situations.

"By the way, nice name change, Bells. I'm curious why'd you'd pick something from a _ballet_, considering how you used to be and all?" Emmett ribbed good-naturedly.

I couldn't help but smile at the inside joke, Gackt who up until that time was content to again just sit back and observe became interested by that comment. He turned his head slightly, still keeping one molten eye on his continuing staring contest of dominance with Edward. (Men, oh brother!) The other trained on me in a questioning gaze.

"What does he mean, how you _used _to be?" He asked.

While everyone else got silent unsure of how to explain exactly without having me light up at the cheeks like a Christmas tree, my own amused little smile only got bigger at that. I'd been with Gackt so long now, sometimes I tend to forget that he never knew me back in the bad old days, as I call them.

"Back when I was human." I explained crossing my legs to get more comfortable, "To say I was clumsy would have been the understatement of the millennium. If you could trip over it, or even if something harmless had the _potentional _of being a hazard to my living health, I'd attract it or turn it life-threatening."

Gackt's eyes finally tore off of Edward and I received the full brunt of his attention, his eyes like gold-plated ping-pong balls. "You have got to be_kidding_me!"

It was obvious, he didn't believe me. I was probably one of the most graceful women he'd ever known. But fortunately Emmett saved me the trouble.

"You'd better believe it." He snickered, counting off on his fingers. "Furniture, rocks, werewolves, other vampires even _thin air_. She's telling the truth, I saw it with my own eyes. This girl was a walking, talking, breathing 'trouble magnet' in every sense of the word."

The pair of us laughed together reminiscing over old times, especially that one time I'd taken a pitfall and when Emmett had commented on it. I'd sarcastically bit back with something sarcastic involving werewolves. I couldn't quite remember, I don't recall everything I'd ever done back in Forks. Maybe, if I'm lucky I can remember some but only sometimes.

When somebody becomes a vampire, the best way I can describe it is being like a setting a controlled brush fire. Yes I know, weird turn of phrase but please bear with me. In short, you light a match and let it go for a while. When all is said and done, the old is burned away and new growth appears a little later. The very environment around the place has changed and you've never seen anything like it. It's the same principle for people, only the old useless bits really die. Then usually most of your so-called _lesser_ talents finally get a chance to shine and you're usually much better for it. The last years seem like a distant memory, even though you know at the back of your mind they did indeed exist. Still you don't really comprehend exactly _how_ anymore.

I shook my head and looked back at my fiancée's still wide-eyes, then sniggered. "Hell all I had to do was _hear _the words, air or ballet. It was a free invitation for anything below the waist to give out and I'd take a nose dive as a result. I think it was because I used to be scared of ballet as a kid, but we had to put _something _on the passport to get me over here." I confessed back to the others almost timidly.

_'So you wouldn't recognize me and I could start over'..._That was a little bit I conviently left out. Not like anybody could read my mind to find out, especially Edward. Didn't mean he wasn't trying, though.

Perhaps emboldened by his kinder foster son, Carlise rounded his attention off of the others where he had started his ocular trek before turning towards me. He had been looking around the room taking in the entirety of the parlor itself, Gackt and I considered this the main room of the house and you'd find more personal objects per square inch than anywhere else in the entire place. From the handpicked vintage centuries old furniture and plush carpets on immaculate hardwood floors and tapestries covering the walls. To the pictures and knick-knacks that held the captured memories and spur-of-the-moment fancies of our times together, gifts and presents from friends, fans and family from all over the world added to make a delightful eclectic mix.

His normally soft, yet serious gaze softened even more whilst looking at me. It made him look almost wistful as he spoke in fond tones. "I'm glad you're alright Bella, you seem to have and continue to be doing alright for yourself. I'm happy for you both." Esme tenderly took her husband's arm and nodded in agreement.

I was surprised at the statement also beaming with pride myself, if my inner glow had gotten any brighter. I'd have probably been mistaken for a lighthouse. _Finally_ somebody was giving me credit for not being a total idiot for the past twenty years. Because the shock had worn off long enough that I had finally realized what the looks, and noticed the snippiness of voice were really about. If I hadn't known better, I'd almost say that Ol'Carlise was actually glad I hadn't turned out like the others. I was standing on my own two feet, more or less. Some tiny, tiny part of me did feel a little particle of guilt and wished I'd called instead of going AWOL. But it was small and fortunately easy to squash.

"Thank you, Carlise, Esme. You're too kind, which is why I hate to ask. But seeing now that you all are here and Gackt and I are in the worse position. Please don't take this the wrong way, but why are you even here in the first place?"

"No we're not." Esme assured quickly, catching her husband's eye. "But before we get to that, if you don't mind we'd like to ask some questions of you two as well. There is not only much to catch up on, there are also certain things that have been left up in the air we'd like to clear up."

Gackt and I looked at each other; he nodded as if to say anything I cared to say was alright with him. He knew I'd use discretion about his personal matters, as he would with me if push came to shove. That's one of the things I adored about our relationship we didn't always need words to communicate.

"Sure." I said, holding up a hand. "Just on one condition, you have to abide by the same rules I give to the press at any public appearances I make."

Edward rocketed up out of the chair looking fit to be tied, apparently he wanted answers. Badly! And this unexpected obstacle had lit a flash fire under his already taunt frame. But he didn't get a chance to do or say anything that time; Jasper was having enough internal trouble from our brother as it was. It looked like he was as tired of it as I was. Because Edward was up barely a second before he stumbled backwards over his overly polished boots at Jasper's sharp pull back. He didn't even get a chance to catch Gackt's smirk of triumph as he put a possessive arm around me.

All Eddie was seeing was a collective glare from not only Jasper and Carlise, but normally passive Esme too. So radioactive Superman probably would have paid good money to have it deflect Kryptonite. I was watching in horrified fascination mostly as Esme whom I'd **never **once seen the slightest bit annoyed about anything. As a result had a barely contained vein busting out of her forehead the size of the Panama Canal.

Make a note; never get on Esme's bad side. Ever!

I knew Edward was pushing it. That he would probably snap and punch Gackt into the next world. However, Esme's invisible grip was firmer and stronger for that little outburst. He was fairly squirming in his seat now. Personally, I liked the way Edward's lips pressed together in a thin line as he tried to control himself not to explode. And the way his topaz eyes threatened to kill Gackt as soon as she let him go. It sounds weird but it was like watching a temperamental toddler smoldering in the midst of a tantrum, because he was denied his favorite what-not; i.e. Me.

I would have stuck out my tongue just for effect, but while I might have wished to recapture my childhood at times. It didn't mean I wanted to give the universe a green light to mentally digress me to said state. There was enough of that going on in the room without me adding to it.

She shot Edward a sidelong glance that was so loaded that even Mr. Emotionless couldn't help but flinch a bit at the unspoken malice.

Gackt and I both grinned at that. "Thank you both too. We appreciate it." They nodded and I continued on as if nothing had happened.

"The only real rule is that if I don't like the question, I don't answer and we move onto another topic. That's it, that doesn't seem too horrible does it?"

With Edward finally out of the way, Esme turned to me. "It's alright Bella dear, we understand. After all, it has been a _long_ time and I'm sure you don't feel comfortable letting everything go all at once. Just tell us what you will."

"Thank you." I sighed gratefully, leaning back against the soft plush and hard muscle of Gackt's arm.

"I don't know if you know, but your parents are doing well." Carlise said softly, inching forward a bit. "They're still in contact with each other and are in still fairly good health being in their sixties."

I smiled widely at him."And you would know best, huh Doctor Cullen?" I replied sincerely.

I was a little surprised when his pale skin tinted at the cheeks a bit at the unexpected praise. But it was something I was only too happy to give, I meant every word of it. He took the now friendly silence as a sign of encouragement looking me in the eye.

"Your father has been mayor of Forks for about two terms and is going to try for Governor soon." He said, but hesitated off twiddling his thumbs on the next part. "And your mother..."

Rolling my eyes sarcastically at that, sitting back, crossing my arms and bracing myself. "That my mother currently resides in Florida bitching to anyone who will listen to her life's woes. After_ Dr_. Phil met a stripper named "La Bamba" in Vegas and got both divorced and re-married at a law firm/chapel drive-thru window the same night. Then had the audacity to slap her with a sapina the moment he got back. That not only demanded she pony up half her assets which totaled around several hundred thousand at the time for him and his new wife, but also to pay alimony too."

The looks on their faces was priceless, I held up a hand so I could continue. I said sourly. "I'm not done yet. Then from out of the blue an out-of-town lawyer is suddenly visiting relatives in the area overhears the sob story and offers to help free of charge. Then proceeds not only to bull-dog the case to shreds, she finds Phil had hidden assets of his own. So he's the one who ended up ponying up and is still doing so to this day."

"How could you possibly _know_ all that, Bella?" Carlise asked in astonishment.

"When I got into this business, I hired some private investigators to find out how they were, if they needed anything and so forth. I didn't want one of them popping up out of the woodwork and ruining _everything _I'd worked for. Espacially Renee! The attention hog!"

I crossed my arms and grinned smugly the revelation. "The fact that lawyer's an ex-hippie with deep-seated feminist values and her husband did the same to her only he was gay kinda helped in Renee's favor. She's a real zealot about that kind of thing, and the friend of a friend, who knows somebody's roommate per se. But overall, a _really _nice gal."

A sea of blank looks and one amused one stared at me in return.

"What? Just because I think they were crappy parents doesn't mean I don't care." I huffed indignantly.

"So, it's mostly about covering your own ass." Edward replied hotly.

"Bingo!" I nodded, repressing a small shudder. "She's wanted to be young forever and with her running around as a vampire for all eternity, I'd stake myself first. Charlie can pretty much take care of his own self, and he really wants to be in state congress more." I added, almost as an afterthought.

More blank looks.

"I've been back to Forks several times throughout the years, I know about Jacob's secession and formation of his own pack. I was even Maid of Honor at his wedding and am godmother to his children. In fact, you might even see him and some of the pack at my wedding. I always stayed with him when I came for a visit." I smiled happily to myself at the prospect of seeing my oldest friend again in what I still hoped would turn out to be the happiest of circumstances of my un-life.

"Why didn't _we_ know about it?!" Edward roared out, his eyes staring to bleed once again.

"Because that was the whole point." I rounded on him and shot back with an envenomed glare. My own pupils doing the same. "Besides just because he tolerates you _doesn't _mean he likes you! You all were usually out of the area at the time and I could move about freely so long as I stayed away from the old tribal lands. I might not be part of the original pact, but a lot of the elders still have a lot of deep seated issues with vampires in general."

"Enough, you two!" Carlise's tense voice cut through the din like a hot knife through butter. "Edward for the last time _**sit down and behave!**_ Or I'll take you out of here treat you like the child your acting as and you definitely won't like the outcome. Bella, I hate to say this but you do the same or I won't be responsible for the consequences."

Just the tone he used seemed to strike and promptly resonate some hidden cord within my fiancée's body. Gackt grabbed me about the waist and jerked me back actually _into_ his lap he obviously didn't think despite the amount of power that probably more than made up for his lack of experience. He overall didn't think that tangling with an elder almost four centuries his senior was a very good idea.

"Please pardon Bella, Cullen-sama. She's not exactly herself today." He apologized; flashing what I'm sure he hoped was a proper expression. While I sullenly squirmed in his grip my attention now gripped on finding a comfortable niche.

"Stop it." He hissed frantically in my twitching ear. "You don't realize how hard this is for me. Really."

I was about to bite back a retort, when I realized what he meant. My eyes went wide; I parked it and didn't dare move an inch more or even blush for that matter. I didn't want to do anything that would set off or tip off in any way, shape or form.

"Ahem, well now that we've covered the subject of my wayward blood relations. Is there anything else on your minds?" I asked uncertainedly, as I pulled my arms out from under Gackt's covering them with my own when they settled back on my waist.

"As a matter of fact there is, Bella made you, didn't she?" He asked Gackt point blank.

My fiancée was silent for a moment at this turn of events regarding it in that usual contemplative way of his. For a moment, I'm sure we all thought he wasn't going to answer at all he was so quiet. Until he suddenly nodded the decision obviously made.

"Yes." He replied solemnly. "But I also ask that you please do not blame Bella too harshly, it was a matter of purely last resort. And my own decision to go through with it, she merely complied with my wishes."

Well, that wasn't exactly the whole story; it would do in a pinch though. When Carlise saw he wouldn't get any more useful information out of the pool he was fishing in. The Japanese are known as being excellent at politely dodging any subject they don't like, Gackt was no exception. Carlise must have known it was a lost cause before it started and quickly switched the subject back to the original topic.

"Also if it's possible I'd like to know how you yourself became a vampire? Who was your own sire Bella?" He responded cautiously, steepling his fingers in a thinking posture as a thought struck him. "Was it the Tracker's mate? What was her name?"

"_Victoria?!_ Hell no!" I cut off quickly. Just the very thought of that wench's tainted blood flowing though my veins. It made me want to rake my expensive manicure into my skin tearing it into bloody rags. "She's been dead for a decade, at least. I became a vampire way _before_ that meeting ever happened, wouldn't have stood a chance with her otherwise?"

Esme, Carlise and the others just looked at each other then at me speechless. "You mean you..."

"Completely obliterated Bitchzilla single-handedly. Yep!" I said proudly.

"When did you?..." I waved them off, stopping them before they could even get the question out."Its better you're spared the details, it was pretty gory. Let's just say, she's gone. Permanently. And hasn't walked the earth for a really long time, and you can all sleep sound in your beds tonight."

It was true sometimes I can still feel where the wounds were inflicted on my body were that fateful night. That particular story in general wasn't so much a sore spot as it was a very weird one.

I just wasn't quite ready to share about that little tidbit yet. "I'm sorry; I don't want to go into specific details about my conversion. But I will say yes, my sire was female she was very old and looked good for her age."

Carlise merely nodded in assent, with our agreement what else could he possibly do? I was glad he was a gentleman raised in an older time where people's word was their honor. He fit in well here in Japan."Well since we can't get you to say anything about that, for now. Perhaps you can at least enlighten us to what you do?" He asked.

Gackt and I look at each other; he shrugged not having anymore of a clue than I. "Do what?" I asked, confusion mounting by the moment.

"What we saw a display of earlier, could you elaborate possibly?"

A dusty light bulb suddenly flicked on over my head. "Oh _that_. Here in Japan it's called Kotodama, it translates 'From the Mouths of the Gods.' I use Mana or 'spiritual energy' to control a person or thing, especially if I know its true name." I fixed Edward with a hard golden stare. "Its how I made you and Gackt both freeze in midair. But it's only really something I picked up, an extension of what I originally started out with."

"And that is?" This time Esme pushed, they probably thought they'd have better luck with her. Ok, I'd bite the bait.

"That weird shielding ability I had, it grew and branched out into more _mental_ areas. Now I can not only block everything from mind probes (I saw Edward flinch a bit at that.) to actual physical attack. Even the Volturi can't crack me, it frustrates Aro no end." I chuckled. "I can also expand it over people if I choose, so they'll be protected as well."

"And what do _you_ do?" He asked, eying Gackt evenly.

"He sees dead people." I said simply, before my fiancée could answer. Everyone just looked at me like I'd grown a second head at my bad double joke. Because hey, the room really was in every since of the word.

"No really, he does." I insisted, as I looked at Gackt for support. Happily he was so amused, that he complied without complaint.

He nodded in affirmation at my family. "Yes, it's true. When I was seven, I nearly drowned while swimming in the Sea of Okinawa. It was such a close call, that I was forced to have a prolonged stay in the hospital. During which several of the children I befriended died, and yet I still kept seeing them around and speaking with them on a regular basis. At first, the nurses and doctors would scold me severely for what they perceived as a cruel prank if I mentioned it. When I was discharged, at home I began to see family members I _knew _where dead and shouldn't have logically been there. Only my parents were so strict, that they wouldn't accept it and insisted I was either lying or wanted to steal attention away from my siblings."

"Nobody ever believed me, not even many of my friends still think I can do it. The majority of people think it's just for publicity and I'm waved off as a charming eccentric. Only Bella ever took me seriously, in fact when I became like her and my 'gift' began to grow. She would expand her shield over me and the invasions in my psyche would stop so I could sleep at night."

Even a blind man couldn't have missed the red-tinged glare Edward shot Gackt with. As I've said before, in the music industry its known that we're never far apart. I couldn't really extend my mental shield all that far at first. Now you know the reason and it's more practical than the widely accepted whimsical one, not that it doesn't have its good points too. Gackt got to sleep and I got a living cuddle-buddy for my trouble, it was a win-win don't you think?

"While we're on the subject of Bella's talents, I want to say something." A cultured voice broke in.

Everybody turned to the beautiful goldenness that is our resident, iridescent shiny thing. Rosalie. She had been sitting there in a sort-of silent, hostile simmering haze. I wasn't sure if she wanted to say anything particularly well...not nice, to say the least. We'd never even been on civil speaking terms. Or if she just wanted to outright blow her stack. A small shiver at the thought creeped its way up my spine, leaving goosebumps and raised hairs in their wake. I was immensely grateful that my back was to the wall, and waited with expectant baited breath.

Rosalie looked at me a moment, then pointed behind our heads. Gackt and I looked at each other a moment, then followed her finger. There on the wall was a small shelf, nothing big or especially fancy about it. The only really significant thing on it was a so small you probably would have overlooked it at a first or even second glance. That thing was also the most valuable and most seasoned J-rock memorabilia collectors would have probably sold their firstborns to get just a two second peek at it. And Rose just happened to be pointing right at it.

"My first album cover?" I inquired with a raised brow. "That's just the finished sketch of the final product, what's so important about it?"

From out of the pocket of her pretty, cream blazer Rose produced that very same 'finished product.' I'll ever be thankful Gackt's arms prevented me from falling out of my seat from the outright shock.

"If Alice gets Gackt's autograph, I want yours." She replied, with a kind of rigid finality that only she could produce.

I was the first to roll my tongue back into my mouth, and pick up my rubbery jaw from the floor after that.

"Really. Ok, _why_?" I asked numbly.

She huffed indigently as if the thought of admitting it was beneath her dignity, and probably did. "I know we've never really gotten along." I shot her a withering look in response that was understated. She ignored me.

"But I know what I like, and I like _this_. I found it in Alice's bunch of Malice Mizer CDs we got from Little Tokyo in San Francisco." She continued, appraising at the colorful artwork thoughtfully. A water colored picture of anime-like me dressed as a colorful punk cat-geisha amongst a swirl of cherry blossoms and a pair of actual cat paws (supplied by Mei) that ended up in the final work and finally the naming of the album, Arigato.

Hello in Japanese. My hello to my new world, I couldn't have thought of anything more fitting.

"I especially liked the first one, Makeup Bag. It appealed to me for some reason; I never knew you could sing like that." Rose said.

I grinned sardonically at that."Neither did I, remind me to show you the music video sometime."

Oh boy, if only she knew. I'd be in such BIG trouble!

I've had a lot of albums since that one, but 'Make-up Bag', was my very first anything. The lyrics to that stupid song had started off as sort-of a bet/joke between Yuu and Hyde, Miyavi and I. You know what a cartooniture is? Those silly portraits on posterboard where you're drawn to look like something out of a Tex Avery flick? Well if you haven't they're really popular at carnivals with the teenage set, I'd sat for one once, just out of curiosity. I'd had myself drawn as Lara Croft; think my repressed inner self was trying to send me a sign or what?

Anyway, instead of drawing we were writing silly poems or off-the-top lyrics about basically anything or anyone (the only catch was we had to have known the person) with mixed, often hysterical results.

Guess what, the only person who popped into my head was of all people, Rosalie. I tried with Alice, but it's really hard to find stuff that rhymes with 'marathon shopping.' Or comparing fighting for the remote to watch the Home-Shopping-Network verses the Superbowl to an epic battle, I tried it just doesn't work. I'm an artist, not a miracle worker. With Rose however, I could finally indulge those nasty little thoughts I'd been nursing from day one when I first got to know her. I merely had to ask myself one solitary question.

'What if Rosalie was Britney Spears who had slightly more depth than a kiddie pool?'

Aside from her toolbox, her beauty was her most prized asset, and logically what else would a woman like that hold in such high esteem? Why that said sacred object, of course! To tell her life's philosophy from the perspective of it, I was in tears by the time I finished the whole thing. It wasn't a contest really, they didn't understand my reaction. But they all thought it was pretty good too as much as guys can understand women anyhow. I liked the mental image it invoked so much I kept it in my purse to keep with me. The music was only added one evening when I was hanging out with Mana at his recording studio after hours. He saw me smiling and reading the dog-eared paper again for the umpteenth time; just for kicks he helped me add a retro techno-pop rythum to it. Totally perfect and completely J-Rock worthy!

It collected crumbs and bred colonies of lint bunnies at the bottom of my purse until one fateful night at a GacktJOB concert. When (for the second time in my life fate took over) and the opening act cancelled fifteen minutes before showtime. I don't know what cosmic force lit the fire under my ass and made me take charge.

Fortunately, Mana-kun was my guest, with his help I made probably the quickest makeover in the history of that concert hall. A little modification to the set, a thirty second crash course with the dancers which resulted in me going out completely improv on stage trying to imitate the confident-looking thoughts and actions of an undead Barbie doll. That silly song not only got me an instant album-in-the-works, a two-year recording contract with my dearling Gackt's own boss-label, Nippon Records. Also won me a huge award for best new single and went triple platinum in under two months, and I had Princess Priss to thank for it!

Did I mention 'cosmic irony' anywhere?

Man oh, man! I wouldn't even _pay _to know what was going on in Rosalie's head at any given time, much less then! Because I couldn't even begin to imagine what was going on up there. All I did know was, she was jealous, and in the worst way too. Honestly, I don't know if that was a good thing or not?

Fortunately, I was saved again. Only this time it was by a loud, dumping thud on wood combined with the shrill banshee wail of the doorbell that caught everyone's sensitive hearing and turned our heads toward the offensive noise. I looked up at a nearby wall clock noting that not a lot of time had passed since I had put down Gackt's cell phone. Not the usual time it took them to get here from their places and meeting up at one of their many random spots anyway. Either way, I was immensely relieved to finally have some back-up in all this.

"They're here a little early." I said happily.

Gackt groaned heavily and rubbed his eyes. "Oh great, it's The Wicked Witch of Pink Evil and her Fluffy Flying Monkey in tow. Just what I need.

I gave a quick elbow to Gackt's ribs, he let out a pained grunt at that and let me go. "Please pay no attention to the jaded sarcasm of the wet blanket over here. Excuse me a moment, talk amongst yourselves while I get the door."

I turned to Gackt in parting. "Behave." I hissed, before rounding on Edward. "You too, and if you break it you bought the farm on it."

"Don't you mean, 'I bought it.'?" He replied confused.

"Not hardly. Because there wouldn't be any pieces left." I replied in a frosty tone. Then turning quickly on my heel to answer the familiar insistent knocking before anyone could comment on it.

* * *

"_That's _your ex-boyfriend? He looks gay." Ami whispered to us in Japanese, after I had explained what was really going on.

"True, but he's also a total_ hottie_. I can see why you liked him, look at those shoulders. Mmmm..The male specimen at it's finest. Sexy!" Yumi purred right back.

They were none-to-discreetly peeking around the hallway corner eying the back of a smoldering Edward's head in the next room with interest.

I smirked a little at that and shrugged as I watched them eye him."Yes, he's got his good points but most of them are superficial ones. He's buried so far in the closet he's finding a decade's worth of Christmas presents in advance. At least, that's what Gackt keeps trying to tell me."

They tried in vain not to crack up at that, but it was a lost cause. They just barely managed to keep the laughter down to undignified snorts contained behind their hands. As if sensing somebody talking about him, his head whipped back around as my two co-conspirator's dived for the cover of the white crown molding. Edward scowled at me as I sarcastically gave a cheery little wave taking a few graceful sidesteps out of his line of sight.

"He can't understand Japanese, can he?" Ami asked, clutching her thundering heart as she tried to catch her breath.

"No." I replied, immensely amused. "But that's the least of your worries with him."

They shot each other an especially worried glance. When they had arrived the prospect of an entire family of vampires both appealed and kind of frightened them all at once. After all, Gackt and I they knew, we'd tease them, but never hurt them. However the chance to see the infamous elusive Edward in their lifetimes, kind of overrid any shred of self-perseveration instinct that the two had left. He'd consumed so much of their normally short attention span that they'd even completely missed making a crack at my unusual outfit. Typical.

"How so?" Yumi asked, I noted a small tremor of interested fear in her tone.

I looked at her kindly. "Don't worry he won't hurt _you_, Gackt's the one in his sights right now. But you know once how I told you vampires have special abilities?"

They not only looked instantly relieved but also and nodded a little in apprehension. "Yeah, I guess he wouldn't be an exception. What's he do?" Ami replied in a sensible way that was a little unusual for her, given the situation. I was just happy that this wouldn't be as complicated as I originally thought.

"Well what he doesn't understand via the lips..." They smirked at my unintentional innuendo, I ignored them. "..He rather can by higher mental functions."

"What the heck is that supposed to mean?" Yumi barked at me impatiently. "We might be _human_, Bell-Bell, but it doesn't mean we understand everything that comes out of your _undead_ mouth."

My eyes narrowed that was hitting below the belt. "Which I'm starting to see you two don't possess at the moment. Edward is a _mindreader_, you putz." I growled back.

It was like flicking on a light switch, comprehension finally dawned in their dark little mental world. "Oh." They said together.

Then Yumi gulped a little bit. "Uh, while we're on the subject. Ah, just how _good _is his mental hearing?"

I shrugged; I'd never thought about it much. "On a good day? Give or take, two to three miles."

She blanched slightly at that. "Did he by any chance...ya know...hear me?" Tapping her forehead to indicate her point, Ami paled a little too. Obviously Yumi wasn't the only one who'd been having naughty thoughts about my ex despite first impressions. This was to funny, but I had other things to worry about so I decided to cut it short.

I shook my head and replied honestly. "Despite his crab-ass appearance he's actually very considerate about that kind of thing. He tries not to invade other people's privacy, unless it's directed right at him. Then you have a problem."

If it was possible they got even paler than me at that."However in order to prevent you two from doing anything really stupid, which I knew you would. I extended my shield over the two of you when you walked in the door, and he's never been able to read me even when I was human. So you're safe." I finished cheekily.

They shot me the dirtiest looks for making them sweat like that; well they could consider it payback for the vampire slur.

"And the rest of them?" Yumi jerked her thumb over her shoulder to indicate the rest.

I raised a brow at that, but gave in. "Aside of the pessimistic mindreader? A doctor who's killed his natural bloodlust, a passive mother figure with blood in her eye, a herculean strong man, an unstable empath, a random psychic. And a Barbie wanna-be who thinks anything to do with a reflective surface is an actual talent, among other things."

The pair just looked at me for a moment wide-eyed in disbelief, but not before stealing another glance into the next room. Each of them trying find clues to pin specific titles on any one person, they came up short. I was actually surprised instead of being disappointed, they face me again absolutely elated.

"This is _**SO **_much better than a slumber party!" Ami crowed in pure glee.

I just smacked my forehead in frustrated exasperation.

* * *

"No way! Bells you didn't tell me you knew Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi!" Emmett cried happily shooting like a comet from his seat to greet us when we got into the room.

"Me too." Alice chirped from behind our brother's massive frame a new hot pink i-phone flashing here and there as she tried to take a picture from around him. She was going to be doing a lot of editing or chewing out when they got back to

I had a feeling she knew next-to-nill about them and was just faking it. She was just having a field day with all these celebrities in her line of sight. Before the end of this visit I had a feeling there was going to a Scrapbook binder full of personalized glossies and photographs the weight of a dump truck that Alice was going to be toting back to the States. If she could even lift it, Jasper would probably still be too embarrassed to do much of anything.

I smiled indulgently at their reactions. "Ami Onuki, Yumi Yoshimura. I'd like you to meet my brother and sister, Emmett Cullen and Alice Hale."

They nodded politely, but the pair was kind of overwhelmed mentally warring with both Emmett's girth and the natural warmth he seemed to exude. Yumi especially, she wasn't used to letting people get that close, physically anyway. She has personal space issues with people getting almost into her face, it comes with the territory. But usually she'll bite your head off quicker than let you get away with doing it. However, I think out of respect to me and our friendship and that he was_ family, _she let it slide.

Ami on the other hand was just staring up gaping at him, like he was the vampiric equivalent of Mount Everest or something. He was certainally pale enough to be.

"It's an honor to meet you, I _love_ your show! And I didn't know you'd both be even lovelier in real life than you are on T.V.." In a display that you only see in really old musicals and certainly not in the real world anymore. Emmett took a hand each and bestowed a courtly kiss on them, both stiff-necked Yumi and hyperactive Ami were silent and blushing when he returned their appendages.

He gave a silly little wink, Yumi blushed a bright crimson. Rose just let out a choking snort from somewhere in the background. That's when the loose ends I'd thought I'd tied began to unravel like cheap twine.

Because Gackt then said something in Japanese that I don't care to repeat. It was like a careless spark in a fireworks factory.

I had to hold Yumi back before she jumped over the back of the sofa to get him.

"I outta pop you one, you big pimple! Right on the nose job!" She snarled tearing at my arms, squirming violently like a greased up eel. Only when she got quiet all of a sudden did I get really worried, and with good reason. The next thing I knew, I felt something incredibly sl_imy l_eave a long wet trail down the whole of my forearm.

When I realized what it was. _"AUGH YUMI! GROSS!" I_ screeched hysterically, rubbing my white skin an ugly raw red against my clothes. "What are you in pre-school?" I demanded of her m_adly _smirking face.

My darling fiancée (and I use the term loosely at this point), was cracking up at the turned tables. While I don't approve of heckling the hyperactive pair, it seemed to be just what he needed at the time to cast off the stress. Though at the time, I didn't have the foresight in order to appreciate that little bit of 'divine intervention'. Not caring who was listening at that point, I was only focused on _cursing out _Yumi in turn for slobbering on me. EWWW!!

At our unified glare, he only responded by laughing harder and almost falling out of his seat.

"'Scuse us, just a sec." I said lifting a finger to the others, my voice fairly dripping forced honeyed sweetness.

They seemed to gasp and take a couple of collective steps back at that. I never th_ough_t of myself as quite that scary, well you learn something new everyday.

I casually handed Yumi an overstuffed pillow from one nearby chairs one of the very ones I was using the day before to squish my temper. I was really glad then I hadn't enacted an early Christmas snow on the housekeepers. Gackt's normally sensitive hearing was shot over all the noise he was making; he didn't even see us coming.

We pounced, pummeling him mercilessly back-and-forth until the dust in the pillows flew up from the soft micro-suede they were made of. You can bet the cheeky bastard fell out of his seat that time, Yumi and I didn't let up until he was flat on the floor, curled in a fetal position crying over the din.

"Uncle! Aunt! Grandmother, Third half-cousin nine-times-removed along with any other family member you can think of, I give!"

The answer was just creative enough to catch our collective attention, and figured he was sincere enough not to warrant a prolonged session. Luckily despite the day's track record he still retained enough of his higher brain functions to still realize I was his sire. Which equaled that I could knock his block off whenever I wanted. I noted that the air had a new car like smell when I took a small breather to blow a stray red hair out of my eye and high-fived Yumi with my free hand.

Amidst the speechless faces of the others except Edward who looked almost downright smug this time, I didn't have the time to deal with this crap. When I heard Ami asking Emmett and Alice in a soft, curious voice. "Was she always this high-strung?"

"Not like this." Alice replied dubiously.

I heard several rapid clicks in succession after that, I'd know that sound anywhere. And I knew she'd been taking pictures of the whole thing!

"Alice."

"Y-Yes Bella." Her voice actually trembling now. She knew she was in trouble.

"If you don't want to lose that new toy of yours, I suggest you put it away. Now!" I threatened in a low, deadly voice.

After seeing me turning a harmless pillow into a deadly weapon, she wasn't brave enough to cross me. I heard another even bigger 'click' then the hasty ruffling of clothing. I was satisfied. My aggression over the day was somewhat better after totally pillow-whipping my fiancée's butt. I dropped back into my seat with a whoomp! pretending that nothing was amiss. When Gackt realized that not more was forthcoming, he climbed back into his own. The look on his face clearly stated somehow, someway he didn't know how, but was going to get me back for that.

I merely sent a toothy grin back at him at that. My sense of sarcasm was really being fine-tuned with the men in my life that day.

"Ami, Yumi, sit down and take a load off, you're among friends." I called over my shoulder to the two motionless figures.

It knocked them out of their huddled stupor with Emmett and Alice long enough for them to quietly find seats at the ends of Gackt and my sofa. My siblings found theirs again, to which their spouses gave them such dirty looks for different reasons. We scooted closer together to give the two room, and that suited me just fine. Though Gackt looked like he had a different opinion altogether when Yumi planted next to me. Maybe he was secretly nervous about us still being so close together, I won't comment on that either way.

"Ok getting awkward, moving on. Girls, I'd like you to meet my family, The Cullen's. Everybody this is Ami and Yumi." As I once again began the exhausting round of intros.

Anyway, Ami's attention was drawn to the others who were sitting just as silently and probably wondering why I was crazy enough to invite _humans _into a den of vampires. They seemed more than a little nervous at now having to elapse into play-acting human again so soon, obviously they thought the pair were something else entirely. I planned on keeping the pair away from paper products so we would be fine. But I didn't need to worry as much about it as I thought I would, they zeroed in on something else.

"Wow!" Ami exclaimed in delighted surprise. "I know Bella and Gackt's skins shimmer in the sun, I didn't know other vampires did too?"

"You mean they know _what _we are?!" Edward demanded, he seemed bound and determined to get us to finish what we started earlier.

I narrowed my eyes at him, "Of course they do." I snapped. "They're Gackt and I's closest friends. Besides these two knowing that we're vampires is hardly the weirdest thing that's going on in Japan's entertainment industry at the moment."

"Name one." He countered hotly.

"The Kano Sisters." I responded instantly, he was making this far too easy. They're the Japanese equivalent of Paris Hilton and a younger Nichole Richie, only they were born with brains, actual taste and physically built to show off the best of everything. You can't walk two steps in certain areas without hearing everything about them. And from the look on a few faces I'm sure they had, especially the males.

"What about them?" Edward said skeptically.

"Those two are extremely popular models and were never human to begin with, they're kitsunes. The legendary nine-tails, Fox spirits of the mountains. And about one-thousand-one-hundred-something put together." I explained.

"Really." Jasper cut in suddenly.

I recognized the glazed look in his eye; I'd seen that same charmed look on countless others in the pair's presence. Only they'd managed to nab Jasper from afar. I couldn't resist the opportunity to turn the tables yet again.

"Sure, they're pretty much immortal and pop up in one form or another every century or so. They just happen to really love human attention, especially from men. They aren't hurting anybody. I know them, would you like to meet them Jasper?" I asked innocently.

"NO!" Alice cut him off before he could answer; we all looked at her speechless at the outburst.

"What I mean to say is..." She flushed heavily while correcting herself. "We'll be far too busy sightseeing and...stuff."

"What _stuff _and why haven't I heard about it?" Jasper asked sourly at being cheated of his chance.

She shot him a look that could have melted titanium. And I sneakily added another pair of names to my ever-growing list for our engagement party; I was going to have _so_ much fun with this.

Devious, diabolical little thoughts were running through my mind at breakneck speed, though the cheerful smile stayed firmly in place. "Well then why don't you let me show you all the sights, I've lived in Japan for quite a while now. And I know the in and outs of every little nook and cranny, and if I don't these two do. They taught me everything I know, including the language."

I motioned to our current guests, Yumi who nodded modestly at the praise. But Ami just glowed; she was enjoying all the attention and the thought of being included in something that involved other supernatural creatures. Then I made my move.

"And shopping in Ginza is the best, so many trendy top-of-the line shops. Ami and Yumi probably wouldn't mind you and Rose tagging along, would you?"

"No." Ami chirped.

"Ditto." Yumi replied.

Alice's ears literally perked up at the mention of her all-time favorite activity. "How good are we talking here?" She inquired curiously.

"Some of the best in the world." I stated matter-of-factly, as a thought struck me. "In fact, seeing as I mentioned it, I'll pay your way. Since you once did the same for me."

The tiff with her husband completely forgotten, as Alice got fairly drunk with happiness with the thought of all the new trends she'd never heard of yet. Everyone else looked fairly dubious.

"Bella you don't have to go to any trouble." Carlise assured. But I waved him off.

"No Carlise, I insist. It's no trouble, at all. I need to get out of the house anyway and do something constructive that isn't work related for a change."

"Hey, why don't we all go clubbing at the 'hangout' the day after tomorrow. And you could all go sight-seeing tomorrow morning, the temples and majority of everything aren't as crowded then." Ami said animatedly at the subject.

"If everyone agrees, I don't mind." I said casually, eying the others. Nobody voiced any objections, only gave various nods.

Suddenly a loud alarm beeped making the room jump at the strange noise. "Shimata! Sorry, but Ami we have to go, now!" Yumi frantically jumped from her seat stuffing her cellphone (which is what we had heard) into a jacket pocket.

"Why? We just got here, I wanted to stay longer." Ami pouted.

"Because we if we don't get back home in forty-five minutes the 'babysitter' is going to know we were gone, and you know if he tattles you know how bad it's going to be for us."

That snapped her to attention right quick; she was out of the room like a shot. But not without a parting "Bye, it was nice meeting you all!"

"Sorry Bell-Bell, Gackt-teme for being so rude, but we'll show ourselves out. Later all!" She gave a mock salute, span on her heel following like a dark-colored blur.

I called out behind them. "I'll call you tomorrow, good luck and don't slam the..." I was cut off by a resounding crash.

"Door." I finished sullenly.

"So, they seemed nice." Esme said awkwardly. Poor thing.

"Yes, they are on a good day. They just tempted fate at a bad time." I shrugged, just as awkwardly.

Ok, now it was time for them to get the hell out of dodge! This day was just going from bad to worse for all of us. Apparently, Carlise agreed with the unspoken cue.

"Well as nice as they were we should take a leaf from their book and let you two get some rest. We really shouldn't have come unannounced as we did." Carlise said, rising from his seat Esme's arm hooked in his own.

We all rose after that, I was just relived that we were finally getting rid of them so Gackt and I could formulate a battle-plan to deal with this.

"It's alright, you didn't know. And my work schedule is so hectic it's usually the only way you can catch me off-guard." I said, well it's not exactly a lie. I just wouldn't have been on the same continent had I known in advance. "I'll call you all tomorrow and we'll show you all around, it's beautiful this time of year and I can't wait."

We smiled, exchanged bows and petty pleasantries for a few moments. Alice and Rosalie got their sought after autographs in passing and everyone was filing out the door, only Edward remained. I stuck close by Gackt just in case he decided he was going to get a few parting potshots in. He merely smiled secretively, put his hands in his pockets and...

"See you later, Gackt-teme." Edward hissed softly in Gackt's ear in passing.

Ok, my bad. It seemed contrary to what I said to the pair, Edward did know some words in Japanese. Probably by skimming an English-to-Japanese Dictionary on the plane ride over. Either way, I was sure there was an ugly pulsing vein prominently showing somewhere above my wildly twitching eyebrow.

The result. My once forgotten pillow whizzed through the air, hitting Edward point-blank in the face so hard it made him stumble backward out the door.

* * *

**Notes:**

**Koi means 'love.' And it's used in many different contexts.**

**Shimata is a curse word, but I think you'll probably figure out yourself from the way it sounds.**

**The Kano Sisters, they are famous fashionistas/models and whatnot who are both known for their outrageous fashion sense and feminist views among other things. They claim to be half-sisters by birth and have made names for themselves in the Japanese entertainment industry.**

**Gackt calls his fans his 'Dears' well I thought it kind of cute if Bella called him her 'Dearling' as an endearment. (No pun intended.)**

**Gomen-Nasai means 'I'm sorry.'**

**And believe it or not, "Make-up Bag" is an actual song. If you've ever seen the movie Monster-in-Law, you'll know what I'm talking about. You can see the whole uncut video on YouTube, when I saw that I immediately thought of Rosalie and couldn't stop laughing at the mental image. But you'll have to see it to understand where I'm coming from, it's a fabulous movie. I highly reccomend it. I pictured Bella singing it, only she was fully clothed. Tastefully!**

**Miyavi is one of the top singers on the J-Rock circut, known for his outragous behavior. And he's the lead singer in an extremely popular band. Which I'm sorry, I don't remember the name of right now.**


	6. Retail Revenge

**_Hi! Ok, I'm impressed you all convinced me. As promised, here's the real Chapter 6:D!!! It's gets a little steamier in this one for a while but don't get your hopes up for anything more explicit, I'm not Danielle Steele. _**

**_Anyway standard disclaimer still applies, and I hope you like!_**

* * *

The hum of the hot pipes and hiss of a waterfall surrounded me in the large enclosed shower, despite his protests to the contrary. I'd made him wash off before me, I needed a lot of 'me-time' and strange as it may sound I do all my best thinking in the bathroom. And no, it's not what you think, it's private and...I'll just move on now. I turned the dial up to a more scalding hot temperature and scrubbed myself viciously. Like I wanted to make a weak attempt boil my gray matter in the brain pan to get the very thought of my ex-boyfriend out of my tortured mind. It didn't help; I really just wanted to continuously bang my head against anything_. _

_Extremely_ hard.

_Edward..._just his name brought such a jumble of unwelcome emotions that I was tempted shove it all away and not deal wi_th any of i_t, but even if I attempted to shut it out, the guilt continued to gnaw me inside-out like a tiny, ravenous creature.

Maybe along the lines with those long-forgotten once-but now-no longer wanted Happy Endings with Edward. A future eternal life with Gackt seemed to be teetering dangerously along down the path of childish fantasy.

I really didn't want to open a 'can of'...no, forget the worms. These were** giant** skyscraper-sized Anacondas- like that movie J-Lo made back in the early nineties- completely equipped with jaws like rabid steel bear traps and able to take a big, wet bite that took everything below the waist, or my last attempt at any _san_e happiness, whichever came first.

When I finally left the shower and tossed my discarded clothes in the hamper. I dressed slowly in a comfortable T-shirt and a pair of shorts, proceeding to towel my hair thoughtfully. I know, how could doing such a mundane activity possibly answer the deepest secrets of the universe, or one's life? Well, you have to look at it from a Zen-like approach. And where better than here, the concept did evolve in the Orient after all?

I wiped the steam and condensation off the bathroom's large mirror, taking a good, long look at myself. Not the inner, rather for once, the outer. I had come to like what I saw there, it was one of the things up until I was a teenager that I was convinced that I didn't possess. How wrong I was, and was never so happy to be so honestly. I watched my reflection watching me, studied the changes that had been made by either time when I was human. By the trials I had undergone, or by more recent mundane means.

From my long velvet brown hair with its vibrant fire-red highlights, my luminous golden eyes framed in long feathery lashes that flashed like a cat's in the bright, artificial light. To my lovely and well-taken care of body, eternally preserved at the height of its youth and vitality that shimmered and sparkled as if I had walked through the vault of the heavens to return with the dust of the stars.

Also it was amazing what a little mascara, eyeshadow and lip gloss could do for effect too.

Meanwhile, my sharp eye caught the glint of white platinum and diamonds. There glittering on the marble sink top where I had put it to keep it from getting wet, my engagement ring. I slipped it on admiring the care and precision it must have taken to create such a little marvel. Despite the hype for bigger bling and even more outrageous styles to cope with that, that is usually expected from celebrities. Gackt had chosen in my opinion, the absolute _perfect _one. A ring suited to both my taste and personality, three Calla Lily Diamond flowers of different sizes bloomed side-by-side in a platinum base that had a surprise if you looked at it from the side. The flowers were held up by the silhouettes of butterflies with wings outstretched also in diamonds, simple yet elegant.

Because if I know one thing, Gackt is an anal-retentive perfectionist, he won't accept anything (even if it's to his own specifications) unless it's nothing short of _flawless_. And with anything pertaining to me, it's a hundred times worse! On a good day, if you're lucky. So you could bet in absolute safety, it was a choice that obviously a lot of time and attention had been invested, as well as utmost love. He knew how to easily capture both my heart and senses in the most romantic of ways. Endless times better than what Ol'Eddie would have chosen, I'm sure. I know for a fact he doesn't possess even one-tenth of my fiancée's incredible taste for detail _and _Gackt didn't buy it with _borrowed_ money either.

Speaking of, I could hear the object of my affection currently talking and his soft, catlike tred in the carpet on the other side of the door. I put my ear up to the door, ignoring the crouching girl putting her ear up to mine (there's a full-length mirror on the door). It sounded like he was pacing, poor baby was obviously more antsy about the past afternoon than I thought. He told me he was fine, then again I know by now never to take what a guy says at face value. The moment of truth, I opened the door.

I jumped a bit when the form of Gackt suddenly whirled around asking, with his arms thrown-wide like he was going to give me a hug, his gaze inadvertently pointed toward my chest. "So how are they..._shaking?_"

Now I know he didn't mean to do it, it was just one of life's embarrassing little curveballs. How did I know, you ask? Easy, there was a script in his hand at the time and another mirror on his side of the bathroom door too. That lame ass 'pick-up lure' was him trying out some lines for a new movie role he was thinking about taking. Then trying to get into character in front of said reflective object after getting bored waiting for me to come out. He just didn't expect me to come out when I did, and kind of screwed-up his lines. What did he expect women and subtlety go together in the same way guys do with talking about their feelings, two-words, oil and water. Still, I couldn't resist the unexpected opportunity to tease him for the faux-pas.

I stared at my t-shirt covered chest pretending to think it over a moment. "They don't shake a whole lot, but thanks for thinking about them." I replied bemused, as I casually leaned against the doorframe.

He didn't say anything for a moment; I think he was shocked speechless at my little comeback. And only his gaze continued to be riveted on me. Or rather, south of my neck. I snorted, it was just too cute.

"I hate to interrupt, dearling. But I assume that thought was originally going somewhere." I asked softly, noticing the blush that seemed to creep and color all the way down his muscular (and unclothed) upper body. I loved that even after all this time, with all the women he had to choose from. I, alone could do that to him. From embarrassment or horniness, I wasn't sure. Either was good in my book, the latter even better.

Determined to get his brain back into proper working order again, not that it wasn't alright where it was. Still, I didn't like to not be answered, I smirked. "Hey Lover-boy, I'm talking to you!" Aiming for the ticklish spot under his right bicep, I hit home, Gackt flailed and eeped in surprise as a result. He pulled his arms around his chest and shot onto the bed away from me. However he did this so fast he really just ended up bouncing on his side a few inches away.

"Cheap shot!" He accused, albeit playfully as he got under the covers.

"So, you still can talk?! And, I wouldn't exactly say 'cheap'. I said, mischievously combing my fingers over his sheet-clad leg. Before climbing up to lay on his chest so I could kiss his cheek. "Maybe...tricky, but not 'cheap', koi."

Gackt was giving me a weird look, and I couldn't help it. I turned over and burst out into a fit of giggles. "It's a good thing you're so kawaii!" He added jokingly.

I over-dramatically flung an arm across my eyes. "It's a powerful, yet dangerous weapon. A gift, yet a curse." I lamented with a mock sigh, before peeking out from my own inner world.

Without warning Gackt quickly got up easing himself around me while he did this, he gently put a hand behind my neck, and kept one at my waist, now cradling me within the circle of his arms. He gave the cutest little mock pout before pulling me fully into a bear hug. Not quite as big as Emmett's, but they were twice as nice.

His lips pressed lightly against the skin at the base of the back of my neck, causing me to shiver. Before giving a reluctant sigh. "As much as I hate to, I need to speak seriously for a moment Bella."

I really wanted to voice a complaint at that, after all what could _possibly_ be more important than us? But after seeing the serious look on his face felt the protest dying in my throat before it could be borne on my lips. After today, I decided he didn't need further aggravation and only looked at him in confused expectation. Whatever was bothering him, it had to be big to rub him as raw as it did.

"I'll be honest Bella, when you told me about your family when we met. I didn't think much of them at the time, however now that I _have _met them..." He trailed off with a grimace.

I understood perfectly. The Cullens and Hales as individuals as a result from being so long lived were as complex and unpredictable with their behavior as a freak change in the balance of nature. But combined they were an enigma that even the Riddler himself couldn't crack. Hearing about them was one thing, seeing them in person was a whole other ballgame.

"What do you want to know?" I asked simply.

"Well first off, Cullen-san and his wife." He said.

"Carlise and Esme?"

He nodded. "It doesn't take a genius to figure out they're the sanest and most level-headed of the bunch."

"Yes they are. The whole structure they've built is really a coven, but we just call it our family. Those two are our vampiric equivalent of Dad and Mom, much saner than my human ones at any rate." I exclaimed fondly.

"They're really good people, and I respect them for it. As well as what they do. But the rest of them..." I crossed my arms and gave an involuntary shudder, huddling closer into the circle of my lover's embrace as if that alone could protect me from unpleasant thoughts and memories. His arms tightened in response. "I can literally map a decent into the depths of madness, person by person."

"Really." Gackt seemed suddenly interested, until everyone had showed up out of the blue to ruin my love life. I usually never had a bad thing to say about...well, anybody. All I could say, things were changing around here a lot lately. "So, on a descending scale after Carlise and Esme, who's next?"

"Emmett, hand's down." I stated with conviction.

Gackt's brow raised in thought, as he tried to place a face with the name. "The big guy?"

I nodded in affirmation. "He's Rosalie's husband." Gackt looked pleased; he seemed to be developing a soft spot for my big brother as quickly as I first had. That make me happy, Emmett is definitely my favorite 'sibling' and a very hard guy not to like. Or maybe he was afraid of more competition and was glad it was only jumping to conclusions, who knows? Either way, Emmett was definitely on the guest list if not the wedding party, I'll bet.

"He seemed nice; he sure made Ami and Yumi's day. They _really _liked him." Gackt said matter-of-factly.

I nodded in agreement. That was really no surprise to me, his boisterously sweet nature just appeals to the big kid in all of us. Ami and Yumi are nothing if not, big kids themselves.

"Yeah, he's a total sweetheart. Overall, the best way I could describe him he's like...," I tapped my chin a moment searching for a suitable answer. "A really big puppy!" I finally crowed in happy triumph. "I'd say a Rottweiler!"

Gackt almost choked on a snort. "That's fairly obvious." We shared a quick chuckle, but then he had to spoil the mood by getting all cranky and anal-retentive again. I'd bet my next number-one hit in absolute safety, it was Edward.

"Alright, I know that you don't really want to talk about him. After today aside from wanting to rend first and ask questions later simply because he can't stand the fact, you've_ moved on._ And _I'm_ going to be marrying you, _not _him. Is there anything else about Edward that I should be aware of that I haven't figured out today _before_ I have to learn it the hard way at the receiving of one of his _temper tantrums_?" My fiancée asked, his beautiful face was scrunched up like he'd been force fed an orchard of lemons after he'd brushed his teeth, his voice fairly dripped sour lemonade.

Bingo somebody owes me a jingle!

"What is there to say," I shrugged, rattling off the character assessment of my least favorite person without much thought. I counted off on my fingers. "He's the perfect fit as undead poster-boy for your typical stereotypical Hollywood badboy or literary vampire. Tall, dark, handsome and brimming with angsty-brooding, hates himself but is too chicken to either work it out or get it over with. He's _tailor-made _for an Anne Rice or Christine Feehan novel or as a guest star in any T.V. show from the Buffyverse. End of story."

After I waved the matter off, that seemed to satisfy him. Although his grip had unconsciously tightened just a smidge when I uttered that 'handsome' comment."What about the last guy? The one who looked like he had a stick rammed so far up his ass he was using it as a spine?" Gackt asked.

"Ah Jasper, the original walking chill pill. One word; emo. Very, _**very **_emo." I admitted.

"That's three." He countered cheekily.

"So sue me." I snapped. "Next question and or statement."

He smirked charmingly down at me, the mood now considerably lighter. He rubbed his chin and looked at me thoughtfully. "Rosalie?"

I let out a rather unladylike snort at that. "Let's just put it this way, she has a few good points. I've never seen them but she nabbed Emmett, so she can't be all psycho. But for the most part, if she were a puddle you wouldn't have to worry about your shoes getting wet."

"Ah, I see. The fun to mess with type?" He added hopefully.

"Not unless you have a secret desire to flirt with Emmett's fist, I said _Rottweiler_ for a reason. He's sweet, but stronger than he looks. With those two, love isn't just blind. It's brain-dead and on a ventilator." I commented dryly. "Anyway I know you, lover. And we still have one more to go, so ask away."

You know how sometimes people save the best for last. Well this was the one I could tell Gackt really, really wanted to devote the most time to picking apart. He looked away from me 'Ho-and-Humming' pretending in the most theatrical fashion to be really thinking it all over. He was fishing for information, well two could play that game, I wasn't going to bite. I could wait all night; unlike my darling fiancée _I_ had all the patience in this relationship. I wasn't disappointed either. We sat there in companionable silence for several moments, before he finally started squirming into my back. He quickly buried his head into the crook of my neck; his arms drew me deeper into his possessive embrace playfully rocking me from side to side.

"Ugh! Alright!" He hooked his chin over me shoulder, then groaned dramatically in my ear. "I can't take it anymore. I. Must. Know. Alice, what's _her _malfunction?"

Now that one did take some thought. I liked Alice, but nine times out of ten, if you didn't meet her bubbly self right off. Her more annoying tendencies just made you want to strangle her and hide the body, just to get some peace.

Still, I ran my hand through my fiancée's soft black (for once the original color) hair. I loved it when he grew it out between visits to the salon, remembering fondly back to when he had been human and had those matching liquid black eyes under the blue contacts. But now they were a gorgeous clear gold, and had been since I had changed him. I flinched a bit at the thought that memory was a little hard for me to remember. How close I came to losing him in fact. Gackt must have taken the momentarily flinch to be something else entirely, mostly associated with my wayward sister.

"That bad, huh?" He chuckled good-naturedly. So, I took the unintentional way out and proceeded to shamelessly bolt through it, without a look back.

"Worse." I replied half-disgusted, crossing my arms sullenly. "You saw most of it for yourself. She's nice, but _extremely_ pushy when she doesn't get her way. With Alice, you kind of get used to being unintentionally humiliated and it becomes a way of life after a while. Anyway, I don't need a bubbly side-kick with an obsession with me. I've got _you_ for that."

He glared down at my now madly smirking face. "Not funny. I am sarcastic and witty, but I am not now, nor ever will I be _bubbly_." Gackt spat out irritably, as if the word as if it left a bad aftertaste on his tongue.

A silent second went past. Then I had to wrap an arm around my stomach, curling into a fetal position as I got a stitch in my side from laughing so hard. Half from the reaction I had gotten, half from that ridiculous and completely unexpected response. And maybe just a little bit because; I didn't hear any denying of it.

It was a good thing Gackt was still holding me to him, otherwise I would have fallen off the bed. When I had finally regained enough air in my lungs to once again reconnect my higher brain functions, like speech for instance to my mouth and in turn give my words voice.

I just barely managed to gasp out. "I think you missed the whole point of this conversation." He pretended to ignore me while half-heartedly pulling his abandoned script across the bed and burying his finely-sculpted nose in it. I hooked a finger over the binding and pulled it down to meet his eyes. "But just for that, I'll upgrade you to the 'clever' side-kick." I chortled, giving him a quick peck on the lips to make his emotional boo-boo all better.

"Why can't you be the "clever" sidekick?" He childishly countered right back, with a raised eyebrow. "After all, you seem to have more practice and experience at it than I do."

"Because _I'm_ the heroine and _you're_ the clever sidekick. Clever sidekicks rarely do anything to get their hands dirty, and that is so you. I'm the one with the plans. Anyway..." I paused, an unsavory thought struck me, and I blushed. "I just hope that all this trouble with Edward and my _family _doesn't cause any scandalous trouble for you."

He tsked, grabbing my arm when I tried to move. "You're to negative." His breath was against my ear.

I loved the way I fit completely against him; as if it we were made solely to compliment each other. I truly believed that.

His pointed teeth scraped against my shoulder lightly, causing me to arch away from him - his strong arm held me in place."Though speaking of the little troublemaker, I couldn't decide weither the look on his face when he left was more surprised or dejected. Did it have something to do with earlier; it felt like he was poking you?"

_'Fangs that I gave to him.'_ I silently thought my mind half-clouded with desire. He expected me to talk though, _this? _What a dirty trick, all's fair in love and war, so they say. I don't know how I did.

"He was testing the shield." I managed to gasp. Gackt was far too distracting.

"And why would he do that?" His voice sounded gruff, almost angry, but it was whispered so softly, so lazily.

"He was probing for weak spots in my defenses." I elaborated. "I'll bet Edward thinks that because I'm so young by normal standards, that I'm automatically _weak_. He was probably willing to risk exposure for a messy attempt at direct access into my subconsciousness. Then take over, and to barricade us in a mental lockdown. All for the purpose of making me see _reason_. Namely his! But fortunately, he never could read my mind even when I was human; now as a vampire even the Volturi can't crack me open. And they're longer lived than everybody put together."

"Not unless it's literally, and it'd be war before I'd let that happen. Still that little pain-in-the-ass he had better not have hurt you." Now I prided myself in knowing every little bit of Camui MS Gackt better than all his millions of fans, handful of best friends, many previous lovers and even his ex-wife. All from his smell, his body, his body language, to his tone of voices. This was Gackt _jealous_; something that I always thought was irresistibly adorable.

"No, it was like batting a gnat whizzing around my head more annoying than anything else, but relatively harmless. Besides I'm here with _you_." My voice was a little too breathy. I hated the way it sounded.

"If it makes you feel any better. When I nailed him with that pillow, I was thinking of you, dearling. Anyway, Edward might be a titanic pain in the ass (that was an understatement). Either way he knows that I'm off limits now, and no amount of puppy pout, kitten face or goo-goo eyes is going to change that. Everybody else accepts it, if it takes them all to make him swallow that bitter pill over his broken body. Trust me, they'll not only do but succeed in doing it too. And forget the hot water, he's in a volcano with Carlise and Esme right now, that's why I didn't say anything. Call it a courtesy gesture. So..."

I cocked a brow seriously at him, giving his nose a slight tap. "That means getting off your high horse, not being so insecure about our relationship. And _absolutely not_, under any circumstances get into a knock-down-drag out just because Edward wants to invade my personal space in some way, shape or form."

"Then I wouldn't be a good fiancée." Gackt stated with conviction.

I pinched the bridge of my nose almost to the point of leaving a bruise and sighed exasperated, now he was just being cynical. No matter how old I get I've found guys have the weirdest sense of logic.

"When people decide to start talking, about you, in less than savory terminology or put you in dangerous situations; that's when I step in." He explained seriously, as his hand reached up and splayed across my cheek affectionately. "You're _mine_. Every part of you. From your head, to your toes, to your temper. Because I love it all, and if I have to fight for it, so be it."

I felt my eyes sting from trying to keep my vision from blurring. "You need to stop making _me _feel bad." I accused weakly, my heart really wasn't in it after that declaration. My chest throbbed; all I wanted to do was just throw my arms around him and kiss him senseless. Damn, how I loved this man! What I had with Edward was a single drop in the proverbial bucket compared to the boundless ocean of what I had with Gackt.

Gackt just smirked in that knowing way of his, and pressed his lips tenderly to my forehead. "I wasn't trying to. I was only trying to make you understand."

"Ditto. But for the record, your exposition sucked." I replied, giving into the earlier urge wrapping my arms around his neck.

He kissed my forehead again, then my nose, my cheeks, before finally pressing his lips gently against mine. "What do you want from me, I'm a guy? The one _you're_going down the aisle with _voluntarily_, I might add."

It almost didn't get through my lust-clouded mind, just barely. I couldn't help but smile at the comment anyway, I shrugged airily. "At least you're honest." Then went right back to my previous activates.

He smirked against my lips. "Enjoying yourself?"

I breathed his masculine scent in, only able to hum in response.

He kissed me again, harder, more ferverently. "Good. That's _my_ job." He accented the word specifically.

My lips twitched in amusement at that, I gave him a cheeky look in response. I couldn't resist having the last word. "I always did have you wrapped around my little finger."

He didn't say anything to that only pulled me close and gave my shirt a gentle tug, exposing the skin there. The time for talk was over apparently. I could feel him cautiously but very sensually trace the delicate line of my neck, down to my shoulder. The clenching in my stomach turned to liquid fire that spread throughout my body but seemed especially potent at the spot where his lips were in contact with my skin. His hands moved to my hips and pulled me gently back, I barely noticed as my body bumped into his slender one.

His hands began to rove again, wondering further up my shirt than the hemline this time, caressing my smooth back, teasing aimless patterns on it. His lips left mine, I almost groaned in frustration. Until Gackt put them back to working on my neck. His arms were around me closer by this point and I marveled at the precise strength that lay in his martial arts honed body, as I began to mirror his tracing patterns with my own hands. The heat generated by his bare torso was driving me even more insane.

The sensations that were racing though my every nerve that was touching his bare skin nearly drove me insane. He slipped his hand under hem of my t-shirt and skimmed along my flat stomach, I was glad I had started working out. Gackt shifted his mouth to begin nibbling on more of my neck, how appropriate for a vampire. Before he allowed his teeth to graze my earlobe, I could feel the fine points of his incisors with almost painful sensitivity. I couldn't keep silent, I groaned.

Camui Isabella.

I liked the sound of that. It sounded exotic. It sounded right. Like it belonged.

His words had almost brought tears to my eyes and the thought vanished as he lifted his head long enough press his lips against mine. His hands played mayhem along my sides, twisting and turning, tickling and stroking. His entire body was one huge caress against mine. Yes, meeting him that fateful night so long ago. It was the first time in my life that'd I'd ever felt like just plain everything fit - with Gackt everything simply clicked into place. He was like the jigsaw piece missing from my puzzle - without him, I was unfinished, but with him, I was complete: the perfection I had always unknowingly searched for. One I had indeed found.

And as the world faded around us, I couldn't help but realize once again that I never felt more at home than I did when I was in his arms.

* * *

Retail Therapy. I've heard it works wonders on the mind, body and spirit. And right then I could have used balance in all three.

For I stood in the middle of one of the largest department stores in downtown Tokyo, with my partners-in-crime; Ami and Yumi. As well as my newly reunited sisters, Rosalie Cullen and Alice Hale. Everyone else in our party had opted out after a glorious morning of sightseeing in favor of a 'girl's only' afternoon. They didn't fool me for a minute, it was really just about using the gender card to get out of a potentional clash between the sexes. Only Esme said she was too old for such things, and Gackt had to work. So aside of us and being accompanied by several bodyguards following and going ahead of us at a discreet distance, it was just us. Not that I minded.

The store held the oh-so inviting scent of new clothing and accessories. But honestly, I have a confession to make. I'm not as adverse to this particular activity as I would like to admit to the world. No, it just has to have a little moderation mixed in with it, that's all. I mean when I have a free day, nothing better to do, and it's just me and my beloved wallet. Oh, how I _love_ that smell.

It's so addicting.

At times too much so.

For certain people at least.

As daring as an Arctic explorer, as nimble as a magician, as exciting as a three-ring circus - that's our darling Alice when it comes to her all-time favorite past time, _shopping_.

While she has nothing less than a PhD in that and then some in that area. She had never actually been privy to what is happily referred to the world over from Hollywood to Milan and everywhere in-between as "The Star Treatment." Maybe Carlise did have more of an influence there, I don't know.

Today I was only too happy to introduce her to the privileged way I'd become accustomed to, as my darling Gackt had once done for me. Although, I did have an alterior motive in mind. But I won't bore you with the details; Alice had my attention for the time being. When we arrived at the first store, with her slack jaw and eyes bugged out like a cartoon character, I was surprised we weren't up to our ankles in drool. It was like watching a horse at the starting gate of the Kentucky Derby, pawing and scraping the ground in fanatic anticipation. One solitary nod had been the crack of the starting pistol she had needed, Alice vanished like a dust devil in the wind.

Momentarily reminded of this little neighbor boy who lived at the end of my block as a child. He didn't have any talent that was exceptional that would have set him apart from the masses. Only that he had a special love of those little zip-tie cars that used to be popular to race down a sidewalk. Depending upon how fast one pulled the tab, that was how fast the little inner mechanics would make it go in turn. As I watched Alice, whizzing in and out of the racks and carefully laid out displays in such a small space like an inhuman Speedy Gonzales. Marveling again at the inner-radar she seemed to possess when it came to potentional hazards that got between her and her next wearable target. I almost grabbed a miniskirt off the shelf at my elbow in order to wave it like a matador flag, just to see if she'd be attracted to the movement. And the fact that the color of it just happened to be fire engine red, didn't mean a thing. I couldn't help but mentally chuckle at the inner picture it evoked.

The floors were wood so highly polished that you could have used them for a mirror, catching Rosalie doing just that out of the corner of my eye. She seemed immensely interested in this new (and previously undiscovered) reflective surface. Man, the woman is like a parrot with one of those stupid toy mirrors you get at the pet store. Now Emmett isn't the brightest light on the Christmas tree, but sometimes I wonder where Rose is concerned 'where did common sense go?' Nothing ever changes in this family, at times comforting, mostly highly disturbing.

The walls were a deep claret color. The uniforms of the employees were very industrial and conservative, unlike the relaxed atmosphere of the rest of the store. They wore black bottoms with white tops. Women wore pressed skirts and men wore pants with creases. Women wore their hair back. Men guzzled theirs with WAY too much moose and gel. I pity their girlfriends, because we're in the same boat. I silently snickered at the thought I live with the second-most hair obsessed guy in the whole of Japan.

Yes, the second. My darling Mana-san is, and always will be the all-time world record, Number One slot holder. Don't believe me? Pick up a couple copies of the Gothic Lolita Bible sometime; the man changes hairstyles more often than the rest of us change underwear. I'm probably the one woman who's not only ever seen but knows the entire contents of his bathroom cabinets and not gone mad at the information. Please don't think badly of him though, not only is he a total sweetie. He's also good-looking enough to get away with it, as either gender. Now how many people can actually say that?

Anyway in the meanwhile, Alice was indulging her version of fun, the rest of us (namely me) being some of the most recognized superstars in the whole of Asia. Plus our remaining (and 'sane' according several mental thoughts of the employees) guest were ushered into a cozy and private sitting area just off the main part of the store.

The store doors were locked, shutters drawn for privacy and closed sign put up. The plush Persian carpets silenced our footsteps, wing backed leather chairs with matching footstools cradled our bodies. We were not only served fragrant blooming jasmine tea on delicately patterned blue bone china as thin and fragile as eggshells. Our senses were enthralled watching the buds blossom in the clear glass teapot on the table before us. We ate colorful snacks (not that Rose and I needed too, but was a nice distraction) that were not only seasonally appropriate but works of art within themselves and thus were a shame to eat. But were tasty nonetheless, I got Rosalie and Esme a couple of packages as small gifts.

Anyway enough of my babbling, from my angle in the other room, I had a good view of Alice. Taking another cup of tea all the while ignoring the astonished stares of my fellow-partners-in-crime and foster sister. Ami and Yumi long used to the treatment that came with celebrity status though not used to Alice's breakneck pace also did the same, albeit in morbid fascination. Rosalie while long used to Alice hadn't quite been prepared for the girl to be completely gone off the deep end as she was; it was nothing short of chaos.

All the while, I just watched the pile on the register counter get higher and higher. It was spreading like some sort of weird mildew growth all across its surface as it began to spill over onto any available nearby surface. Where most people might have had a heart attack at this. My smile just widened, it was turning out better than I hoped.

Strangely, it was a small shaky voice. One that I almost didn't hear that broke me out of my pleasant reverie.

"Bella?" Rose asked, unsurely. The tea cup almost dancing on it's saucer in her slightly shaking hand.

I looked up somewhat surprised, the rich powerful ball of charisma called, Rosalie. Timid? That was a first; needless to say it caught my full attention immediately.

"Yes Rose, can I help you with something?" I replied, reaching over and adding another spoonful of honey to the already sweet tea with a little silver spoon.

Her eyes boring directly into mine, I saw them flick briefly towards the open door. Before coming back to rest on me once again. "You do realize don't you, that you agreed to _pay_ for all of this?"

I was confused, hadn't we already been through this conversation? I slumped comfortably in my chair, hooked my ankles on the footstool and retorted. "Yeah. So, what's your point?"

"I think what Rose-san is trying to say Bella-chan," Yumi, ever the voice of reason broke into the conversation in English, giving her summer-saulting eyes a break from the antics in the other room. "Is do you really think it's wise to let Alice-san take advantage of you like this? I mean, this isn't like you."

"And don't you dare say anything, but I'm worried what Gackt-kun will do too." Ami's voice, calm for once the tone maybe, just a little bit (dare I say it) _nervous_. As she replied over the safety of her best friend's shoulder

Rosalie on the other hand just looked downright relieved. Probably that she didn't have to open her mouth to get caught voicing an emotion that wasn't strictly pertaining directly to her and or her well-being. Typical. She just wouldn't be caught being tender nor showing depth of any kind, was it any wonder I was usually taut as a bow string around her. Or the fact she's the sole reason, I somewhat believe the majority of blonde jokes are the result that people somewhere actually met her and got together to compare notes.

I rolled my eyes, and then huffed exasperatedly as I waved them off. "What?! She used to do the same thing for me back in the States? Alice liked me even when I was 'different' and used to treat me to shopping sprees all the time; I wasn't a 'big name' all the way 'back then'. It's been a very long time since she's seen me and why shouldn't we make up the time?! Only with this time it's for her, not me. Is that really so wrong?"

I didn't go into much detail with so many listening ears about, just insert the words "human" then "twenty years" and "loaded as Midas" then you'll get the gist of it. Sure, I said Alice had done the majority of the shopping, it was true. I just neglected to mention she'd done it mostly _without_ my input. I'm still a little sore on the subject, sure I was timid. But I knew what I liked, Alice was trying to be nice but her pushy nature was overwhelming. So there was little I could do at the time, however now let's just say I'm looking forward to cracking a few heads, metaphorically of course.

They all shared a crestfallen look, but dared to say nothing more. It was sweet of them to be concerned, though I couldn't help but wonder if it were medically possible for a vampire to die of boredom? But unless I wanted to have the remains of my dignity handed back to me on a platter. I had to smile and nod, grin and bear it. It wasn't as bad as it could been, what it lacked in mental stimulation it made up for in sheer entertainment. Mine, that is.

At one point, I even decided to join Alice, much to the surprise of everyone who themselves didn't dare move from their safe haven. In fact, as I was leaving I took a parting look over my shoulder. Those three seemed to gravitate towards each other, like they were huddling for safety reasons during a typhoon. I had to smile, I didn't doubt Alice would have ploughed anyone or anything, friend or foe who was at the wrong place at the wrong time over like an out of control semi-truck. That's just how excited she was and this was just the first store, this day was just beginning. I kinda felt sorry for not talking those three out of this earlier, if only to spare them the anxiety.

Listening to the clinking of metal hangers against the metal and glass of the clothing wracks tinkling like little bells was music to my ears. It was another aspect of shopping that I loved. Some very sultry music played in the foreground adding to the very nostalgic feeling of the store. As my sharp, expert eyes scanned the wracks for anything eye-catching. Bingo. I spotted a pink, extra long tank. It'd be perfect with the embroidered jeans I had in the back of my half of Gackt and I's shared closet back home, I just never could figure out what could go with it. Now I had my answer, I just had to get to it before Alice did.

Making sure she was in another part of the store, I weaved through the narrow walkways that divided the different clothing sections. I made it to the blouse without incident. At closer inspection, I saw it had black threading that mingled with a deep pink. It was trimmed in lace, and seemed to be made out of some expensive silk like material. I fell instantly in love with it. I promptly snatched a size small, and then headed toward the purse section all the while happily planning a new clubbing outfit in my head.

Ya know, with how my early life used to be honestly, I really loved being pampered like this. It's fun. You don't have to fight crowds, listen to crying kids who can't shut-up, smell the cheap overbearing perfumes some people like to wear. And the past experience keeps you humble too; Japan is too close-knit to have grudges popping up everywhere. People weither high on the ladder or low on the ground usually have their fingers in something pertaining to everybody else's business around here. Only Alice wouldn't realize that until it was too late, if she noticed at all, if ever.

Feeling her gaze linger at my back, then turned to a colorful pile that looked like it was trying to escape from her arms. Somehow I sensed an air of finality; I gave her the brightest smile. "Find everything you wanted here?"

"Oh yes, you were right this place is to _die _for." Alice was almost flat-out squirming to keep from happy dancing. To me, it just looked like she had to go to the bathroom really bad, and probably did. She could forget the simplest things whilst indulging her passion.

Ten minutes later, I was at the register with my tank, a cute clutch purse and Alice's 'everything else' sprawled up to my collarbone.

The place in a strange way felt denuded and a little more echo-y, it was a little disconcerting to tell the truth. Like when you're a kid, after the birds have taken the best berries off the blackberry bush before you can even get to them. I glanced down at Alice bending over interestly checking out a turn-style of designer frames that had caught her eye. One hand was leaning on the counter for support, while the multicolored pile hid her form from the salesgirl. But not me because she was still moving, or rather you probably guessed. Still squirming.

My suspicions were confirmed. I tapped her shoulder and pointed to a nearby door. "Down that hall. Third door on the right."

A quick, immensely grateful hug attacked my mid-section just above my low-rise jeans. "Thank you!" She chirped.

When Alice had disappeared around the bend, the cashier and I locked gazes as I handed her my debit card. She took it hesitantly eying both me and the pile in front of her several times. Like she couldn't decide weither to do her job or try to talk me out of it and lose can you say lose not only the store's due, but she and her fellow employees "Big fat bonus/commission". This poor girl who looked like she was about to bust out crying was risking nothing short of total rejection and termination, such loyalty. So, I decided to cut her a break.

I put a reassuring hand on her shoulder."Don't worry about it, Rui-chan." She seemed a little surprised; a celebrity like me remembered her name. I was a good customer and she was one of my favorite cashiers. I continued. "I wanted to do this for her. She's an old friend of mine. She used to do the same thing for me."

Rui looked at me non-pulsed, she didn't believe me. I didn't blame her.

"I know." I exclaimed, holding up my hands in defeat. "It's hard for me to believe too. But she did. Though I try to practice some self-restraint... "

Rui squared her shoulders and looked me square in the golden eye. "_You_ worse than _her_, Schwannsee-sama? **Not Hardly!**"

I was surprised at her conviction. As we glanced down again at the growth before us. "I think you're going to need some help." I added quietly, repressing a sudden shudder.

It seemed she agreed with me. Rui silently picked up a phone beside the register, and I picked up my cell to call in my body guards that were stationed just outside the store and with the car in the parking lot. I was suddenly very glad we'd brought the van with the extra trunk space and the name + number of a nearby rental service.

Strange as it may sound, I was in such a good mood after that. I even felt generous enough to add two matching sets of brand-name shades that had caught Alice's attention. One for her and one for me.

* * *

It wasn't until much later in the evening that we got back to their hotel. One of us, I don't remember who, I had more pressing matters. Namely, the weight of the numerous boxes that were pressing on my collarbone that I was carrying up to the Cullen's rooms while doing my share. Sure, we vampires have superhuman strength, but even that can only take so much after the day I'd had. I was just glad I'd worn the 'sensible shoes', ugly but comfortable Mary Janes. When we had a free hand in every since of the word called ahead and ended up with no-less than half of the entire hotel concierge service (and I think even a few helpful guests). Who in response went above and beyond the call of duty to a handful of downright desperate women, to unload the incredibly _massive_ collective that resulted from Alice's free-for-all.

Don't ask me to count the trips, even with all the helpful _extras_we had. I lost count after a number that even now I don't care to disclose, let's just say it was double-digit and leave it at that. I will say this however, I was gifted with the Oh, so charming task of dragging an unconscious Alice Hale all by my lonesome self. It was painfully apparent that everybody was not too thrilled with me for catering solely to Alice's whims all afternoon. Now I was paying for it with _interest_. Because if looks could kill, I'd be a pile of ash right now. Though piggy-backing the dead-weight under the hostile gaze of my female companions, and a sore aching body was hardly a bad price to pay. All things considering when I'd let Ami and Yumi in on the punch line of my little prank later, I'd knew I'd be forgiven.

If it was one thing I absolutely adored about that pair, it was their _understanding _(when it came to their sense of poetic humor, that is). And I was going to be owing my bodyguards an enormous bonus after this little "family reunion" is mercifully over. Ami and Yumi had opted to stay downstairs, something about wanting to crawl to the nearest bar or into a bottle of strong sake, whichever was closer. Happy Hour, it sounded like a terrific idea!

After dumping an unconscious Alice on the nearest sofa. An island amidst a literal sea of boxes and bags with different logos whose packaging looked as expensive as the contents inside were. I had just paid the last of the now extremely happy hotel staff or a civilian straggler, I wasn't sure. Either way exchanging the traditional quick goodbye bows and pleasantries. Rosalie had just barely managed to pick her way through the retail obstacle-course that had been layered like bricks to make room for misc. objects weighed down by her own purchases. Don't think just because she was adverse to Alice's "shopping-mania" that she was immune to any freebies, I offered. It was a good thing nobody in this family needed air, because everything took not only the space. But the breathing room, too.

She was like one of those mountain goats picking her way up the Swiss Alps from some really old film version of Heidi. I'll give that girl one thing, I never knew she was that nimble. I was having problems of my own having just managed to wedge the door shut with a full body plant against the wood, when I heard the weirdest noise. Sort of, like a cross between a choke and strangling a chicken. With my limited mobility, I somehow managed to carefully pirouette on my heel to find Jasper in the nearest open doorway. A good fifteen feet from his wife on the couch in the middle of the room. The mess stopped just shy of his toes over the threshold. His platinum eyebrows in the clouds and jaw somewhere down below ground level, in-between the two the gaping cavern of his mouth producing the strangled noises I was hearing.

"Hi Jasper, how's your day going?" I panted, casually leaning against the doorjamb. As if absolutely nothing was amiss in the world at large. Yeah right.

I desperately wanted to laugh, but I just couldn't. All my extra energy was currently focused on body parts involved with staying fully erect. I watched as poor Jasper took all of this in, decades of marriage definitely never prepared him for this little hiccup in time. He somehow managed to take it all in without fainting, before his gaze finally led him to where I'd dumped his wife. Whose lips were curled into the most silly, foolish little grin you ever laid eyes on? She'd managed to fish out a nearby Gucci bag and a pair of Louis Vuitton shoes from somewhere out of that sea. Then was happily proceeding to hug the ever-loving crap out of her prizes like a mass of favorite stuffed animals.

Yep, she was completely out of it. Nothing new there, because there wasn't much to start with truthfully.

Secretly, I desperately wished Jasper wasn't in the room. I wanted to whip out my camera phone out SO badly!!! If Rosalie was a Blonde Joke, then Alice was definitely from Sex in the City. Damn, if I wasn't out of my ever-loving mind for thinking that was actually _cute?!!!_

But what happened next was SO much more worth even that. Jasper proceeded to be tripped and trampled over this and that in kind. He managed to make it to his wife with no particular trouble, proceeding to give her sleeping form the most through going over. Carlise couldn't have done any better, he'd would have been so proud.

Sleeping Beauty wasn't too happy about the arrangement though, whenever Jasper tried touching her prone form. She'd give this strange little 'twitch-jerk,' once when he tried to move her. She actually _hissed_ showing full fangs and everything. I think it spooked the crap out of both of us to tell the truth. Besides making a mental note to _never_ bother Alice when she's sleeping, unless it's an emergency. Then I'll get someone else to do it, preferably Edward.

Turning a haggard expression toward me, complete with worried, blood-shot pupils. He just barely managed to choke around a constricted throat."Bella! For the love of all that's holy, and the sake of my sanity. I'm only going to ask this once. What is all of this? And what the hell happened to Alice?!"

I smiled secretively and just told the truth. "Sensory overload."

Jasper just looked at me like with eyes as big as dinner plates, gaping like I'd sprouted a jack-in-the-box from the top of my head and started farting rainbows from the other end. Glancing at both me, the comatose redhead and the entire span of the room full of knick-knacks, whatnot and all sorts of junk that would probably end up in the backs of closets and charity groups. (Boy, I bet he was glad they'd foregone the smaller seperate suites at this place now, or possibly not.) If they could ever pry it from Alice's cold, dead hands that is. Several times in turn, like he couldn't quite make up his frazzled mind on how to react. He didn't really need to crunch on that inner-debate for too long. Rosalie came clambering down the stairs, along with several others whom she probably tried to prepare for this little shocker. But it didn't quite end up that way, Esme fainted on the seventh step down and all hell broke loose from there on in.

The rest of my day ended up like one of those charming Mastercard commercials...

The floor of a major department in downtown Ginza all to ourselves for an entire afternoon_...$More than you'll ever see in ten lifetimes._

A literal army of shopkeepers, attendants, valets, delivery people and etc. to cater to our every need_...$You don't wanna know._

The entire spring line of Vivian Westwood's latest fashions before it hits the floor and three maxed out cards_...$My bank, Kaito-san and Gackt are all going to blow their tops when they see my credit card statement._

A front row seat to Carlise _**finally**_ seriously chewing out Alice about her spending habits for the very first time, like ever and imposing a _single _credit card with a limit_....$0._

Subtle revenge from a former unwilling Barbie doll..._Utterly priceless_.

Yes, some of the most wonderful things in life are those which you can't buy. But would sure be worth the price of admission if you could. I was _really_ looking forward to tomorrow night.

* * *

**Notes:**

**Kawaii is sometimes an affectionate term, it means 'cute'.**

**Koi is not the fish, it means 'love'.**


	7. Portal to Hell

**_Hi all! Now I know you probably want to shoot me because I haven't updated in like what 3 months?! Well in my defense, work and time crunches haven't been good to me. But I finally found some time to finish this so I hope you enjoy this current installent._**

**_Oh! And just let you know, there's some risque material, swearing and drinking in this. But hey, these are vampires we're talking about here. They're not underage, they just happen to _look_ it. So please, this was ment to amuse and entertain, not offend. So if it does, let me know so I can re-write it and make it less so, ok._**

**_And one more thing, just to clearify things for future chapters. Like Stephenie Meyer's books, all vampires will be able to function in daylight. But in my story, they'll be able to eat, drink and sleep. Because hey, I don't care if you are undead, you gotta have some downtime sometime. Though they don't really need to in my story, it's a matter of lifestyle choice. _**

**_Ok, enough prattling. Thanks for listening:D!!!_**

* * *

The sun had finally gone down and left the world in shadows of blue and grey fed now with bright artificial light, but then again, Tokyo never really slept in the first place.

Looking out the tinted window watching the world go by in a veritable blur. My fingers unconsciously drummed out the steady beat of a song against my knee along with the chorus in my head. I had new music video coming out soon and I'd been a bit distracted of late. And that in turn ment "The Red Brake" was getting antsy, not good.

I glanced at Gackt, who wouldn't let anyone else drive or even get near the keys of one of his more precious "babies,"or the "Heavy Metal Girlfriends" as I call them to Gackt, Hyde and Juu's endless amusement. So had gotten roped into being a glorified chauffer on this little "outing" between my estranged family and I by default. He was now my trusty wing-man wasn't really so bad for me, I got to see a few of my favorite things.

Leather + tight + Gackt = Happy me. _Yummy!_

The frantic herd of butterflies that had set up breeding rights in my stomach when Gackt and I became more than friends. They were currently were one collective ball of warmth that seemed content to wiggle contently in the deepest recesses of my abdomen and spread it to the farthest reaches of my body.

My fiancée, always sensitive to my moods stole a quick glance at me from the side of his Gucci shades. Almost as if he could read my thoughts, a slight upturn of the lips, that looked no more than a twitch if you didn't really know him. His fingers finally finishing their inches long trek across the seat lacing with my own, as the...ahem, _twitch_ morphed into a seductive little smirk. Our passengers blissfully unaware of the school children style romantic-antics, taking place under their very noses. It felt like Christmas in my hand. I almost grew ears and a tail then and there as certain _thoughts _made me almost purr kittenishly with contentment. Me-wow!

Damn! I should just tie a bulletin board with big, red hearts tacked onto it over my fat head. Or better yet, like that part in Winnie-the-Pooh where he uses Christopher Robin's Red balloon to get to the beehive under the pretense that he's a raincloud. Only picture mine as heart-shaped and substitute the bees for Gackt and it couldn't be anymore obvious. I mean if you could hear me, the first verse would probably be going something like this.

_"I'm just a little J-Rocker, _

_hovering over My Honey's tree."_

Well braking out into song, skewering childhood classics and coming dangerously close to infringing upon powerful copyright laws at the drop of the proverbial tophat. Yep, I officially have it BAD!!!

"Bella, where are we going exactly?" Rose asked, leaning over the back of the seat curiously. Which was a first in itself for her, come to think of it I was getting a lot of that lately where she was concerned.

Thus the second most painful thorn in my side effectively popped my "happy-balloon," which then dropped me face-first into a mud puddle, before ruining my great hair day by drenching my head.

I really wanted to kill something at that point, or use it as a scratching post. Whichever inflicted the most damage. I was just grateful Edward was far too preoccupied with his usual silent brooding in the opposite direction. And he still couldn't read my mind or things could have been a whole lot worse.

I had almost forgotten that I had promised Ami and Yumi that I'd meet with them that night. It was a good thing that they had called to remind me. Carlise and Esme had opted for a quiet evening at the 'special' restaurant that Gackt and I had recommended, it was one of our favorites and catered to not only humans. But "unique" clientele as well. They had wanted to give all us 'kids' the options of going out and amusing ourselves with the fast and furious Tokyo night life, which was no joke to say the least.

Ami and Yumi hadn't objected to a few more tag-alongs in leau of the slumber party idea going bust. I think that they were just in awe of the fact there were more vampires for them to pal around with. Or play with depending on their mood, that and what we felt like letting them get away with. Even Gackt didn't object to going out for a change.

He probably just wanted to keep Edward as far from me as mortally possible. Like Mr. Emotionally-Unstable could sway me now, as if. It was nothing if not cute, and I just let him go right on thinking that I needed saving. Either way, my inner Princess had latched onto the valid excuse of "Damsel-in-Distress" mode, then bounced back quickly ensuing to have a Mardi Grads with it, complete with Disney characters. I'm fairly surprised my outside wasn't happy-dancing right along with my inner. Though I think it was that little bit of hard-won common sense I still possessed in the wake of Alice's own little potty-dance in public the day before, I decided to listen and retain my dignity for the moment.

Because nothing is harder to take seriously than a person whose trying to be so, and is making you crack up instead. Especially for the little bit of psycho-emotional warfare, I had in mind.

"Portal to Hell." I stated, bluntly.

The ensuing silence seemed to stretch into eternity, which was almost too big for our Taurus. "Wha--the fudge?" Emmett was the first to speak, but it came out more like the squeaking of a mouse. He wiggled a finger around in his ear where it came out with a satisfactory little 'pop'. " I must still be jetlagged, I thought you said..."

"Portal to Hell? I did. Although it's more often then not affectionately known as _Hades,_ by the locals." I commented lazily, to preoccupied with other things to notice.

I chanced a half-lidded glance at them via the rearview mirror, watching the resulting fidgets and uneasy looks towards a now stiff Edward. As they subtly tried to keep from squirming like raw meat on a fishing hook currently dangling over piranha-infested waters. Especially were my ex-boyfriend was concerned. I can't say I didn't not relish the show, just a little. It was kinda funny actually, vampires afraid for the sanctity of their "immortal" souls. I would have laughed outloud, if it hadn't been so moronic. That and Emmett's cursing vocabulary that had all the articulance of a three year old. Well they do say some women like men who can make them laugh, even though I'd yet to see even an upturned side of a lip crack the porcelain mask that Rosalie calls a face.

Finally deciding to take pity upon their situation, I continued pretending that nothing unusual had happened. "It's one of the most popular nightclubs in Tokyo, as well as the biggest and most upscale." I explained, casually making a show of checking my unsmudged eyeliner.

"It's got a pretty exclusive guest list unless you're with a regular or an A-list yourself, you've got as much chance as a snowball in it's namesake of getting in. Which is what makes it _so_ much fun." I grinned happily at the thought.

"Then enlighten us pray tell, why are we even _going_ there if it's so picky about people?" Edward piped up, rather rudely.

I felt myself bristle at the comment, but was surprised when Gackt (who hadn't strung two words together throughout the whole trip) leapt into battle verbal guns ablaze ahead of me.

"If you'd bothered to even think about it, you'd have realized by now you're not only going with Bella and I. But Ami and Yumi are going to meet us there too." He spat bitterly in English, gripping the steering wheel not only making his pale skin even whiter.

"Together we're more than enough to get you in without question. If you cared about Bella in the slightest, it'd become apparent that she's really sticking her neck out for you all. This place is **her **_favorite_ hangout, the place she and her friends go to have fun. She wants to share it with you, but you _gaijin_can't even be slightest bit grateful. No wonder she leapt at the chance to leave America, if this is the way she was treated."

Thanks to all the extensive martial arts training that his father had made him go through throughout his childhood. It was amazing the self-restraint he showed by not bending the metal of the frame, nor it being warped by the sheer heat of his anger. We all watched on in amazement as Gackt and Edward both caught each other's bleeding eyes rather than watching the crowded highway. I don't know what worried me more that, or the unspoken threat of malice hanging in the air.

When Gackt is in his right mind he's really an excellent driver, obeying posted speed limits in populated areas, going slow when the light turns yellow....Although for a vampire, our senses are so hyperactive, it'd have to be nothing short of a miracle if we did hit something or someone beside the occasional windshield bug.

However, I was still as jittery as a plate of jello in an earthquake.

"Bella's told me about you, and your little _idiot_-synchronies." He retorted. I think all of us; even normally stoic Jasper shared a collective wince at the loaded barb. "Tell me _Edward-san_, would you have even come, if she had told you from the start?"

Up to that point, I'd had enough. I came to enjoy my evening, not play referee in a potentionally hazardous-to-my-immortal health confrontation in an even more enclosed space. Between of all people my fiancée and ex-boyfriend.

"That's enough, you two." I snapped, breaking the tension like a cheap, taut elastic band. "I got my fill of this back at home."

I rounded around pointing at the first offender. "Edward, you didn't have to come. If you've changed your mind, I have no problem with that. I'll even get a taxi, rickshaw, boat or any paying mode of transportation you prefer to ferry you to wherever your heart desires, even to the dark side of Pluto if it'll get you out of my hair that much quicker. But for the meantime, shut your pie-hole before my foot goes so far up your backside, I do it for you. And mind you, it'd not only be one pair of shoes I wouldn't mind losing. But I wear mostly heels, so you decide."

I was half-way into the backseat and over Rosalie and Emmett's laps. Even Rose was inching discreetly away from the power that I'm sure was coming off me like little lightening bolts. Everyone, (except Gackt being he was used to it by now) looked on in horrified fascination. Like you know when you see a car wreck, you know you shouldn't look but you can't help but be morbidly fascinated by it. They knew me back when I was still in my 'timid' stage and wouldn't have raised my voice even to repeat myself.

"And you," I rounded on Gackt, my voice still had an edge, but it was considerably lighter tones than I had used with Edward. "Thank you for the thought. But this isn't the Feudal Era, I can defend my own honor, oh Mighty Kenshin-dono. Now let's just try to get through this little disaster masquerading as a road-trip, and get to our destination in one piece. Agreed? Any objections?"

The weight of the unspoken power I put behind those words. I felt rather than heard the nods and accessions of agreement, when I finally plopped back down in my seat. Gackt focused on the road opting for his customary silence instead. Along with the million questions that lay unanswered on other still tongues, ah well, there would be more than enough time for all that and more.

Honestly, Gackt had had a point. If I had still been following Edward's leash, the name itself would have caused me to think twice about it and miss out entirely. But being in show business long enough, I had realized you can't sell anything without an appealing gimmick.

I mean think about it, in this day and age, people were always saying the world is going to hell in a hand basket. It just confirmed, someone somewhere, was either really business savvy or just more in touch with a sicker sense of cosmic humor than the rest of the general population. I'd go with the latter. However, I had to respect Ami and Yumi's choice; it was familiar territory/neutral ground after all for us at least. Sometimes it's better just to humor the two. My life had already _become_ hell and then some in the past two days. What was one more visit between old friends?

* * *

"There you are! What took you guys so long?" Ami's impatient voice fumed, as soon as we got to the meeting point at the back of the building. It was one of her rare moods, but I swear I could almost see thin wisps of smoke coming out her ears. As I watched in fascination her nostrils seemed to flare as she made a little noise like a frustrated horse.

"Sorry, ran into some _minor_ delays. How did you get here so quickly?" I asked, honestly curious. Tokyo driving wasn't for the road-rage prone, faint of heart and low in patience, even at the best of times.

Yumi crossed her arms and rolled her eyes sarcastically. "That's why you leave _early_, Bell-Bell-chan."

I smiled back just as sarcastically, showing a full view of pointed teeth. "Depends on your _definition_of early." After the day I'd had, I was enjoying this unexpected opportunity to tease Yumi.

If she caught any hint of the wide field I'd left open for interpretation, she didn't show it. Only quirked a brow and continued as if I'd said nothing. "But anyway, now that everybody's here." I saw her do a quick head count just to double check, then pumping her fist in the air enthuastically. "Its time to party!"

We all said nothing more after that, to tell the truth. I was happy just to let Ami and Yumi take the lead for once, they were having a field day with this whole thing. What more can I say, like kids in a candy store at Christmas?! I think everybody else was just half-and-half, half scared of me and half interested at what they might see. Interesting turn of events, ne? Their world had been pretty much limited to the Western part of North America, if they wanted mental stimulation. Easy as shooting fish in a barrel with an Uzi, and was more than happy to tip it to share some of the wealth. I might not have gotten that High School reunion, but this was the next best thing.

Alice's jaw dropped to the ground as the awe-inspiring sight finally came into focus (and the line that came with it).

"Oh my God Bells, this place is going to be packed! I don't want to wait in line all night!" She whined dramatically.

I bit the inside of my cheek fighting back a harsh sigh, _again_ reminding myself that I had to be patient with Alice. When you don't physically age as others do, the emotional is as about as aged as you get and even that's usually debatable depending upon the circumstances. It was just hard to get used to the fact that after being around so many people for so long who were actually on or around about the same maturity level as I was. That again having to digress with the Alice's emotional immaturity which had equaled that of a petulant preschooler for almost a century, was my own bitter coated pill to swallow. Not to mention it was the size of a _beach ball _to boot.

Still, I did. The actress in me even mustered enough will-power to smile indulgently at her and exclaimed. "Beautiful people don't wait in line, silly girl. Come on!"

With one hand on Alice and Rosalie surprisingly unresisting (maybe from surprise at my at least in her p.o.v. forwardness) caught in the grasp of the other we scooted along ahead of the others. Yumi and Ami's inner radar sniffed that something dramatic was coming up followed in hot pursuit not to far away. Unashamedly leaving the guys to take up the rear.

Up in this part of the crowd, things had calmed down a bit and one could actually hear themselves think again. Which I guess would be a good thing if you were the kind of person who was enamored with the sound of your own voice. Anyway, up closer to the VIP door are stricter rules and more restrictions (at least if you're behind the rope), like no cameras or cell phones. A rule I personally like its dang near impossible trying to blink flash-bulb spots out of your pupils if they're all meshed into your line of sight like a conveyer belt.

Why do you think Yumi has the _issues _with people, I mentioned earlier? And I'll let you in on a little secret, it's usually the reason people in my position wear sunglasses most of the time too.

Plus for some reason, it's quieter up here, nobody really like to draw attention to themselves, placement at this door is a coveted thing like a food-chain. One toe out of line, and security will throw you out on your ass quicker than you can pull a brass band out of your butt playing Dixieland all the way.

That's another thing up here, if you're not prestigiously named or rich, you have to be freakishly good-looking. Speaking of, many variations of the male gender some pleasing to the eye, others not so much on the other side of the velvet rope stared, whooped and catcalled at us in passing. I reveled in the attention because most of directed at me. I don't know that Rosalie was thinking about all this, or if she even realized what was going on. Until this one guy suddenly leaned out in front of us and let out a shrill whistle, a bold move that caught even my normally passive interest. I stopped out little group and eyed him openly, giving him the once over slowly, up and down.

He wasn't really bad looking, a short haired blonde with big green eyes, and a rather nice smile if you could get past the obvious veneers. He was hardly dressed for clubbing, though the clothes were nice. Also brand-name. Still, he couldn't have stuck out more like a bandaged sore thumb. In his salmon colored Le Tigre button down shirt, khaki chinos and new tan loafers. Well in his defense, he wasn't completely hopeless. Because he had a somewhat decent brown leather jacket thrown over the whole fashion disaster-in-the-making, even if it was a couple sizes too big.

I suspect he had a more coordinated older brother who would be realizing that he was missing a vital piece of his dating wardrobe in the near future. And wouldn't be too happy that the sleeves of the dry clean only garment were rolled-up either. A fact this butt-head was trying to hide in his pockets as much as possible. Probably some lame attempt to look _hip_, in his own warped little world at least.

Even if his style was one of cultivated downtown sophistication that was more at home on Fifth Avenue than downtown Tokyo, Japan. Honestly, he looked like he had crawled fresh out of a Bel-Air Country Club.

And it just screamed one word...Virgin!

"Why don't you come home with me tonight baby, I'll give you the ride of your life." He asked me point-blank in the eye, accompanied by what I'm sure he thought was a suggestive eyebrow wiggle. He probably thought himself a worldly connesouir; I thought he was a complete idiot.

Somewhere in the great divine, I don't know whose idea it was. But either way, I was silently giving a big tip-off of my hat in way of thanks. For this was just the pick-me-up I needed. I just love it when these little wanna-be prettyboys worm their way out of the woodwork, it makes it all the more fun to mess with their heads.

Where once, such a blatant comment would have had me inventing an entirely new shade of red. Now I laughed, genuinely and honestly bemused by the guy's forwardness. Judging by the vacant look on his face, he obviously didn't know just _who_ I was, or he would have probably been the one who was blushing among other things. Or pissing his Old Navy pants the most likely bet.

Though again, I have to give the little crap-head credit where it's due. Not many people have the backbone to hit on a celebrity so openly not unless they were trying to impress friends, settle a Double-Dog-Dare, or were just plain drunk. Especially if the person's significant other was just as famous, notoriously overprotective. _And_ also just happened to be a stone's throw behind them at the time with an equally protective ex-boyfriend of the party-of-the-first-part.

I couldn't help myself; well...actually it really just came to life and ran out all on its own. Because I let out such a derisive bark of laughter there. I still don't know if it was from how ridiculous the statement was or what I thought up to knock the little crap-for-brains down a peg or two off his pedestal.

"Little boy, you couldn't handle _this_," I purred silkily in unaccented English. Quickly pulling my companions to myself until I was self-sandwiched inbetween _both_ a wide-eyed Alice at the front and a gaping Rose at the back. "Besides, you're not our _type_."

If I wasn't before I was totally going to be on Rosalie's "To Maim" list now.

But the stunned looks on both his and the little peons with him lurking on the fringes of the still noisy part of the crowd. Once ready to jump in with lame pick-up lines of their own to cover the slack (aka: Rosalie and Alice), now looking away pretending that they weren't with him at the unexpected turn of events.

Then it was my turn to be surprised, because there was a bunch of high-pitched shrieks at the down further at the edge of the line, both female _and_ male. Right where we'd left the guys, more and more people began to turn their heads in that direction, a few heads were even showing in interest in following two smaller mobile figures in the middle. My ever-present human partners-in-crime who were hovering just behind us, also having seen and enjoyed pretty much the whole thing.

* * *

Rose was angry. No, she passed angry a while ago. And she was more than her normally merely bitchy; she scowled far too much to be classified as merely irritable. No, there was but one word to accurately describe how she was probably feeling at the moment.

Pissed.

Her now dark, liquid gold gaze rolling toward me, with all the intensity of a heat-seeking missile.

No, scratch that from the record. Rose was absolutely _livid._

Forget what I said about Rose never cracking, because she was so red I was positive it had to be extremely painful. So much so, that the vast airspace around us seemed several degrees cooler by comparison. She shot me with a look that could have easily blown a sizable hole in Kevlar.

And like one of her precious cars on a drag strip, I got a front row seat to her going from zero to raging, hormonal bitch in two seconds flat.

"I can't believe you just told that guy we were _lesbians!_" She roared childishly, looking like she could have ripped me a new one as bloodily as possible if not in the presence of so many potentional human witnesses.

Not hardly in the mood to go kowtowing down to her now punctured/deflated ego. "Relax. He's a tourist. It'll give Mr. Mama's Boy something to fantasize about when he goes back to his shared over-priced hotel room that completely reeks of B.O., littered with dirty clothes and take-out cartons."

I shrugged offhandedly at an afterthought. "Where he'll wake up in an awkward yoga-like position tomorrow hungover, cranky and ultimately alone as he started. Plus, that's only if one of his so-called friends decide not to sleep where they literally crash from exhaustion after a failed desperate attempt to look cool, anyway."

She seethed like boiling tea kettle, hissing like a snake, though in a surprisingly ladylike way. "Allow me to borrow an earlier response from Edward; _Go. To. Hell_."

I unabashedly smirked at that, she was losing her touch. "You are _definitely_ in need of a night out if you're sinking that low. While we're on the subject anyway, you're coming with me." I exclaimed cheerfully.

That apparently tore it, or rather me into itty-bitty unidentifiable pieces if Rose had any say about it. And she sure thought so, the almost lunged at me or my jugular if you wanna get technical. Despite the witnesses, as fun as baiting Rose was. I had no desire for a riot-in-the-making, or to be hauled off to either jail or a government 'establishment' to be chopped liver under the glass of a microscope at the end of it all.

I coolly held a hand out like a traffic cop, she halted in mid-pounce her hostile gaze was so hot it almost burned me. It traveled upward with sudden interest in the direction my other hand's pointer finger indicated, towards the large marquee boldly flashing above our heads with both Japanese characters and italic letters for emphasis.

**_Portal To Hell_**

I was instantly forgiven.

Maybe because as prissy as Rosalie ultimately was, even she could appreciate a good subtlety. Even if it was directed at her. Plus, I just think she _really _wanted to get in, it was an exotic free-date card with her hubby, all expenses paid. Hint, hint...and killing me would have been counterproductive so I apparently qualified to be officially forgiven, momentarily at any rate.

I could hear Ami and Yumi come up trying to stiffile their snickers, lest they tempt anew the mountain which houses Rosalie's volcano temper. Apparently, their opinion of her was about as high on the bar as mine was. In a change of pace, I ended up dragging Alice by a limp hand, who up to that point had been so stunned at what happened earlier, had literally been shocked speechless. The shrill screams and fangirl squees and such got closer, as we were joined by the guys. It all seemed to happen in slow motion, as I turned just in time to see Gackt and Edward, talking and giving the little 'prettyboy' their version of the evil eye on both sides for daring to breathe wrong in my direction.

Apparently that tag-team was all the sensory overload his limited brain capacity could stand, I saw the guy whip around give me a look so astonished. I honestly wouldn't have been surprised if his eyes popped right out of his skull and rolled around like marbles on the pavement. All right before he keeled over backward into a dead faint amid the high-pitched feminine shrieks of the outraged Ko-gals he landed on. Probably for distracting them from their futile fantasy-isque attempts at trying to seduce my fiancée on the red carpet.

I hate to say it, but I told ya so.

The guys finally caught up to us, as amusing as that 'united-front' was it was a temporary truce for a common worthy cause, at least in Man-Land. Anyway, I finally (and happily) relinquished Alice to Jasper and Gackt put his arm protectively about me once more, much to the annoyance of Edward. We all went through a covered VIP entrance and delivered past the sights of that long line of wanna-be's, nightly hopefuls and paparazzi laughingly masquerading as "subtle observers"- as if the word even existed in their vocabulary- that stretched around the block.

Portal to Hell was located back toward the main entrance of the Entertainment District. It was easily one of the largest establishments in the small slice of real estate known as Electric City in Tokyo. It consisted of one entire building which was rare, because usually it would have taken up one floor with business' in the floors above. Everyone else's eyes were collectively the size of fine china plates as they followed me through the door. Thankfully Jasper was keeping one hand on his wife though so as not to lose the dazed woman though the packed crowd. Which having him preoccupied was very good indeed, the last thing I needed was to let Jasper loose in this chaos.

Before we went in fully, I stole a glance at the bronze statue that stood on the top of the becolomned and arched doorway. It was a woman with her eyes blindfolded as she balanced a set of scales in her hands, one on each side. Blind Justice. That was the message it conveyed, one that never ceased to amuse me. It made me want to laugh outloud. Why on earth would blind justice be needed upon entering hell? If a person was sent there in the first place, wasn't it already clear what sort of person he or she had been when they were alive?

Money was actually collected on the inside, but we were just waved along by the bouncers without even bothering to check anybody's I.D.'s. They knew us from past times, and had been instructed long ago to let us and our parties come and go as we pleased. We were allowed access to more _exclusive_ parts of the club. What we didn't pay in a cover charge would make up for in drinks and word-of-mouth publicity among our celebrity friends. Single individuals could lay down thousands of dollars in one night that could easily pay the rent on the building for months afterward.

Is it any wonder why rich people are welcomed wherever they freaking feel like?

A narrow waterfall fountain gushed gently out of the wall before becoming a stream of water encased in Plexiglas under the floor where you'd then walk on it blocked the way to the inner hall, where the supposed 'real' fun was. The Styx River. It hadn't really been hard to figure out the contended meaning the first time we'd come here. There was no need to ask for the name of the LARGE stuffed, three-headed dog that stood beside it. 'Cerberus,' the relentless guard dog of the Gates of the Underworld in Greek legend. I'd never met the designer, but it seemed that whosoever he or she was, the inspiration consisted of nothing more than stringing a few random myths and ideas together.

We deviated off the normal 'beaten' path and up the familiar shadowy staircase nearby. It was roped off by purple velvet and flanked by courteous white-gloved security guards. As we made our way there I looked over my shoulder to check how everyone was doing. I wasn't disappointed, Emmett had found the

Quotes that were inscribed upon the stones layering the path under our feet. And while trying to discern them, he had managed to pique everyone else's interest in them (except Edward, but then again what else was new).

_"I never ment for things to be like this..."_

_"I thought it'd be good for him, I didn't think...."_

_"I wanted what's best for him, honest!"_

The good intentions that paved the road to Hell. I had to admit it was a rather creative thought. And kinda appropriate given the current situation, don't ya think? Considering life in general the past few days.

They were pointing and whispering to both themselves and each other, and while I snuggled closer to Gackt's side. I lazily caught Edward's eye again just before I moved forward, and he was giving the both of us the (mostly Gackt) such a look of venom and disgust. I said nothing, only proceeded to look ahead once again. Listening to Ami and Yumi join the Cullens and Hales conversation chattering animatedly like jackdaws back and forth over the decor.

As we emerged from the dimly lit darkness, I raised my head to get a better look at the other decorations. My interest had always been piqued, the murals on the walls told stories gathered from various sources from Chinese and Greek Mythology, well-known common History and even Dante's Inferno featured prominently in a few places. One panel showed a baby Achilles held by his mother at the heel while she dipped him into the Styx River. Another revealed Aristotle reigning over other virtuous pagans in Limbo, the first level of hell. Those there included famed philosophers and heroes like Socrates, Plato and Julius Caesar.

Coincidently, the first floor downstairs was pretty much the generic 'public' area. It has a bar of its own, a dance floor with a DJ box as well as a stage for booking local bands and such. Of course you have to understand; it's usually so packed with noisy, drunken people that I'm sure that at least four or five different safety and fire codes are being broken at any one given time.

The last time I'd been down there was after this incredible Battle of the Bands rave one night. However a guy (who I think was stoned) was being hauled between two of his buddies out of the club. He somehow got close enough to me, and kept asking me if I was his "Mommy?!" I wasn't amused, and I haven't been down there sense. Can you blame me?

At the top of the second flight of stairs is a large opulent western style room devoid of all the cheesy downstairs gimmicks and lit entirely by warm, dim lights. A second more extravagant bar area was off to the right with a few people sitting at it completely wrapped up in their own quiet conversations. Ones that included a daytime soap opera starlet, two balding salary men and a senior geisha with her little sister in casual dress flicking a special seasonal themed business card at the former. (Who I also noticed were sporting a matching pair of underage stamps.) Like that seemed to matter to the sophisticated lady delicately sipping at a high-ball.

The noise downstairs was reduced to a dull rumble that faded into background noise, one that was easily broken by the sharp staccato clatter of pool balls hitting each other and darts thunking on cork boards. I counted the familiar eight familiar tables in the vast space, separated by a partition to offer the illusion of privacy. Each alcove had a low table and a comfortable booth with it to provide breaks from the nearby games. Only three of the tables were currently in use, though one group looked more inclined to talk than shoot.

All in all, a comfortable place to rest and relax. Such well-rounded facilities, was it any wonder that this was one of my favorite places to be? They've thought of everything even that name had it right.

The Elysian Fields.

We all claimed a booth closest to the pool tables, Jasper and Emmett's natural competiveness devoid of their natural video games honed in on the next best thing. And sort of discreetly swayed our decision, I must have let my mask of passivity slip a bit from the amusement. Because Ami, who hates quiet in any way shape or form with a passion jumped right in trying to drum up some noise of any kind.

"I'm surprised that you managed to find the place," Ami asked Jasper innocently at her elbow. "Did Bella give you directions?"

"Nope, we carpooled." I broke in, seeing as how Jasper didn't have a clue how to answer. "What with gas at over five dollars a gallon, even for rockstars that's steep. Even with rentals, the majority of us aren't driving anymore than we have too." I shrugged airily, several heads nodded in complete agreement.

"Speaking of gas...do you all want to get a pizza? I mean Bella-chan does, and Gackt-teme too, sometimes. But do youall even _eat_human food? It'd be a shame for you to miss out either way. Because the pepperoni here is the best this side of Harijuku." Ami broke in, grinning way-too-innocently for her own good.

"Funny." Gackt replied sarcastically, placing a newly lit cigarette inbetween his pale, perfect lips.

I narrowed my eyes with a warning glint at the poorly thought out ice-braker. "Nothing like a little fart humor to make the night a resounding success. _Classy_ Ami," I joked sourly, I definitely wasn't in the mood for her trademark crudeness right then.

Yumi elbowed her tactless and maybe soon-to-be ex-best-friend in the gut. "I'm going to the bar, my treat. Any takers?"

I swear her teeth almost 'pinged' the smile she gave was so radiant, she reminded me of a cheesy toothpaste commercial. Where the actors look like they have their smiles screwed on with a hydraulic wrench. A round of orders popped forth almost immediately, from rum and cokes to wine coolers. Personally, I agreed. Especially if I was going have to deal with Ami's lame ass attempts at what she called humor, and Edward trying to bore pinholes in Gackt's skull all night. The times honored liquid courage, alcohol sounded like a _fantastic _idea. And free booze, even better. I didn't want to get hammered too early in the evening, so I rattled off with a less dangerous Amaretto Sour (to start).

And speaking of smart asses, my eyes snapped over and were on Edward, taking in that dark look. He had changed since the last time I had seen him. He seemed quieter, and more toned down, if that was possible. However after meeting Gackt he was completely dark and reserved. I held back an involuntary shudder; the sooner we got that cement mixer off his shoulder the better.

* * *

"And then I was like, what the hell?" Emmett and Yumi let out another bark of laughter at the animated story Ami was telling. They were at complete ease with both him and Jasper, who would also talk occasionally, but it was her who was mainly left with the job of making any kind of conversation whatsoever.

Not that she was having any kind of trouble, mind you. It's a pleasant surprise to know when the pair are pried away from their spouses how well they actually behave. Nobody was flirting in any sense of the word; it was just really a bunch of new friends getting to know each other. To tell the truth, I was a little apprehensive about letting Jasper loose among the general populace. But for once I was happy to have my fears be completely unfounded.

The significant others in question however, didn't even notice. In fact, they weren't even paying any sort of viable attention to their husband's new playmates (forgive me, for how weird that sounds).

"Aaaannd...Hell yeah! She sinks it!" Shrieked Alice joyfully, on the other side of me.

Much to the dismay of the other customers in the room, judging by how many irritated looks were shot our way.

I saw Rosalie and Gackt give almost twin irritated sigh as Alice continued to celebrate what was shaping up to be Team Cullen's third straight pool win in a row. I knew they knew it was only a game...but if there was one trait the pair shared, it was an _extreme_dislike for losing. Though considering Gackt's dislike rivaled the size of Jupiter, I was actually surprised at how well he was taking it. He could be cursing up a bloody blue streak at the moment. Especially because Edward was eating this up feeling the need to celebrate each and every shot he and Alice got in. In a parallel universe this whole thing could have ended up a guys vs. gals, because I didn't want to play. So now I was keeping score instead.

Besides who knew somebody so flaky, had a hidden talent or insane luck for putting little numbered balls in holes.

In short, they would have rather dropped dead a thousand-times over, than be on the same team. And instead I got to keep score and watch my ex make a fool of my current. Normally, if he'd been a good sport about it and not made a big deal of it. I wouldn't have done what I did next, and actually felt guilty for thinking it, maybe. But two more Sours, a couple of Fruit Punch wine coolers and nursing a Vodka Chaser will maroon and drown out anybody's moral fiber. I contemplated the dark, amber liquid before deciding with myself.

On the pretense of going over to the bar to get a refill, I motioned to catch Yumi's attention. As she was the only one _equipped_ for what I had in mind, I remember thinking it was stupid for such cool weather. But was rethinking it perfect for what I had in mind. Not to mention had expressed somewhat a passing compliment for Edward. Watching everyone carefully, I conversed my idea with her in quiet, hushed Japanese.

"You owe me _**SO**_ _**HUGE **_for this, Bell-Bell." She hissed grumpily, in an equally quiet tone.

I smiled impishly, handing her another Kiwi-Lime daiquiri (that I had bought for her). "I know."

I arched a brow and surveyed the pool table just as Edward sent another ball into one of the side pockets. "I hate to tell you this, honey, but the count is two solids to four stripes, excluding the eight ball for both sides. And Edward has got the last few shots lined up perfectly. Nothing short of a tsunami is going to make him miss. So...rather than let "Team Awesome" (as Alice had unceremoniously dubbed she and Edward's team to the happiness of his bemused ego) continue this and have to hear about it for the rest of my eternal life. Besides it's just one little favor, which unlike Ami, you know I'm good for it. And you get full bragging rights for cleverness and originally, and your Gackt-teme will be more than happy."

That seemed to sway her a little, more than a little. She rolled her eyes, but saw my point unconsciously straightening her sweater and hair. She spared the unsuspecting sucker a glance. "So true. Well, better get this over with before somebody sees me."

Nodding once, then with a more believable smile plastered on her face went back over to join our group. Ami, Jasper and Emmett had joined the others and were watching that game with more than a passing interest. Emmett even winced in sympathy a couple of times on his wife's and my fiancée's behalf, such a sweetie.

When I heard Yumi say with a mocking innocence that could have rivaled Ami theatricality on her best day.

"Oops, our table is a _mess!_ It looks like somebody sloshed booze all over it. Better clean that up before it ruins the finish."

Rosalie and Gackt watched her stroll casually over to the table, not that I could blame them. I'd want to look anywhere but in front of them too. I joined her off to the side with a helpful towel, both of them were really curious as to what we were up to now. Keeping her back to the pool table, Yumi bent over and began cleaning up the mess she's had the _spontaneous_ urge to suddenly take care of.

Not even ten seconds later, a solid white ball went flying over the edge of the table and rolling under the edge of the cushioned bench against the wall.

* * *

"You have _got _to be kidding me! You freaking scratched?!" Alice shouted enraged, as Edward pulled his face off the pool table from where it had taken a nose dive. He was probably still seeing stars, and I'm not talking about the ones on Yumi's underwear.

_Operation: Panty Flash. _

_Status: Opposing side winning streak terminated! Mission complete success!_

Yeah, I know it's bordering on the level of an April Fool's prank, and I owed Yumi HUGE for this, but as I've said before some things in life are worth what you sow and reap. That and Thank Heaven Yumi is such a glutton-for-punishment trooper at clubbing in mini-skirts despite the zero degree weather.

I happily got on all fours and proceeded to dig the ball out from under the table. Before promptly and smugly smiling, I handed it to an astonished Edward. "Something wrong?" I purred silkily, I'm sure my eyes were glittering wickedly in the dim light.

It was then he seemed to come the stunning realization that I, Isabella Swan and Yumi Yoshimura, had purposely flashed him in order to make him miss the shot.

All he could do is gape at me and Yumi while we silently laughed at him, giving each other a small underhanded high-five. Man, I was so glad Esme and Carlise opted out for so many reason, too many to name. And everyone else except Gackt and Rose remained oblivious as to why he dropped the ball like it was a live hot coal. Edward dug the heels of his hands fiercely into his eyes, like he was trying to gouge out all the really wrong images that I'm certain were trying to engrave themselves onto his brain.

Rose flashed me a small, somewhat surprised smile gratitude, while Gackt planted a sweet kiss on my cheek. I was on such a high, I took his pool cue from him

"Break out the rack, I feel up for another game, how about guys vs. gals this time?" I chirped happily and unrepentant.

* * *

This time around everything went better and I was actually beginning to loosen up and enjoy myself. We'd decided upon doubles and Rosalie and I were paired up against Jasper and Emmett. Everyone else had decided to take a breather and were watching in a companionable silence, making 'oohs' and 'aahs' upon an appropriate hit or miss.

Even Gackt and Edward seemed to be mellowing out because they weren't at each other's throats. And it wasn't from the free-flowing booze from the open bar either.

Now it wasn't really about winning as it was so much as having fun with friends, and in the lightened up atmosphere. I found myself once again backed into a corner with Alice, metaphorically speaking of course. I'll give the girl credit though she has this superb inner radar not only to find the perfect pair of shoes in a packed after Christmas sale. But also the perfect time to lay an ambush when someone's verbal guns are down.

Unfortunately playing nice and letting somebody else have a turn meant that she had time to resurrect one of her stupid games, this time it was Twenty Questions. Oh joy!

"Man Bells, all the things you've done, seen the people you've known and met." Alice lamented, clutching her stick in mock angish. She chewed on her lip in that way of hers I'd long ago come to know as her way of silently voicing frustration. Probably thinking of all the stuff she'd _missed_ over the years. "I wish you'd called, why didn't you?"

I almost let out an unladylike snort at that, raising my eyebrow under the pretense of thinking. What made Alice think that just because she knew me it entitled her to tag along and share my life? Suddenly I was really glad I hadn't let her know about the Geisha and Maiko at the bar. I was positive that stupid camera phone that I despised was hiding somewhere on her person tonight.

I shrugged, quickly thinking up a believable answer she'd buy. "I wasn't trying to leave anybody out of the loop. But things just kept happening, months turned into years and you tend to lose track of time easily when you have so much of it."

A couple of heads nodded in silent agreement, then surprisingly Edward, who up until then hadn't said a word. Obviously still smarting from the clever defeat at Yumi and I's sneaky hands. He hadn't been playing at the time and seemed content to watch the game (or me depending on where you were angled). Off subject I will say this, my team was doing much better than the previous one and leave it at that.

"I agree with Alice, you've come a long way Bella." He said in that gentle, deceptive voice of his.

The fine hairs on the back of my neck stood at complete attention, I don't know what he was playing at. But I had an image like a siren on the sea, he was just waiting to lure me to my doom.

"Do you remember when you couldn't carry a tune in high school? You would go out of your way just hide in the back during choir practice and then you'd bury your face so far in the music book nobody would know you were there. It was like everybody else was singing to you instead…_'and do you remember that night I sang you to sleep?'_"

I merely nodded and politely chuckled with fondness at the school memory but that's where the line was drawn. He didn't say the last part but it, but the look he gave me somehow made me remember. It was a little embarrassing. I could tell a part of him was trying to make me remember things I hadn't thought about in years trying to make me feel in the same emotional context that I no longer thought of it in.

I wisely didn't comment on it, in fact I decided to pay it about as much mind as one would to swatting a particularly annoying buzzing insect. Instead channeling all my energy into making a neat and classic eight ball in the side pocket with a satisfying flourish.

"You were so afraid of your own shadow, we had to keep you from stumbling all the time." He insisted with a smile.

"But that's sure not the case now." Rose broke in casually, leaning over the table, calculating up her next move. "That 'video' offer of yours stuck in my head and since our hotel has some kick ass internet hook-up and I went poking around on YouTube last night after everything was…uh, 'cleaned up'."

I noticed a light blush fine as a miniature rose petal, dusting Alice's cheeks and Jasper give an almost imperceptible shudder behind his pool cue. I almost chuckled at that slip-up, I could only imagine the horror. I was gone long before that, only staying long enough to watch get Alice chewed out was enough _fun_ for me.

"Not just the music, the choreography, the costumes and even the sets. Some of that stuff was nothing short of _spectacular!_" Rose added breathlessly, effortlessly sinking her next shot.

Edward who had instead had opted to staring at me again, and had only heard half the conversation. The latter part to be more precise, when he suddenly commented rather untactfully.

"That stuff you were watching last night? Sure, those 'tinkly little melodies' were somewhat cute. Honestly, I thought it was Britney Spears trying to pull off another lame hair stunt, only this time it was ripping off Christina Aguilera's brunette look."

Ami and Yumi who were standing next to me both whipped around with wide, surprised eyes at the sound of wood snapping to find me casually leaning the pieces of my broken cue stick against the wall. I heard Emmett swallow and mutter a shocked expletive under his breath at my unexpected feat of strength. Something along the lines of, _'Little sis got very, _**very**_ strong.'_ Ami patted his shoulder reassuringly. In normal circumstances it was humorous to see the looks on people's faces when I demonstrated an amount of physical prowess that would normally be beyond someone as slender as I was.

An awkward silence descended inbetween all of us, complete with the dramatic insertion of _chirping crickets_. (Well, it was actually the squeaking of the nearby cappuccino maker behind the bar. But let's not get literal in a technical sense.) It would have been just the kind of unexpected comical interlude that Ami and Yumi would have usually have made some kind of crack at. But I was far too livid myself, and they were certainally respectful of my moods.

"So that's what you think of me and my music?" I ground out between clenched, pointed teeth. That you could have probably heard grinding in Hokaiddo. "We'll see about that."

As I quickly exited the room, I heard Gackt growl fiercely in passing. "Why the _hell_ did you have to piss her off?"

* * *

I ran down those staircases like the very Devil himself was in residence and chasing at my Ralph Laurien heels all the way. All the while, I was more than mad, more than truly angry even. It was one thing to answer Alice's assine questions. But this, _this_ was so beyond anything I had ever thought that Edward was capable of. And it was another thing to question my talent, I didn't really care about that. You usually have people testing your worth from day one in the entertainment industry. It's one of the many prices you pay for success.

However to blatantly say, that I _couldn't_ survive on my own. But that I couldn't _think _for myself, that I had to be coddled like a newborn. After all I'd done, all I'd worked and strived for. For me, that was the greatest insult somebody in my position could receive. Honestly, when I'd first started out. Yes, I won't lie in my early days there were people who wanted to shamelessly advertise the fact that I, a nobody gaijin, knew some of the hottest stars in Aisa. They wanted to do the name dropping thing and have me ride somebody else's coattails to success.

But that was one thing I'd drawn the line at, in bold, red paint. Hell, I would have climbed up on the Tokyo Tower and hung it up in bold neon if I'd had too. After living the life I had in Forks, I didn't want to be handed **anything,** by **anybody!** And you can quote me on that. No matter how big a name they were in the industry, I wanted to do it myself. I cried blood, sweat and tears, and then finally dust when I had no more moisture to shed. I worked, sacrificed and toiled long to make everything I ever had now meaningful. Not just for the fact, I wanted to earn it myself. But when I looked into the mirror, I wanted for the first time in my life to see somebody worthwhile.

I wanted people to see and be proud of _me_, not for somebody else wanted me to be.

Especially Gackt.

I'd come to find that his opinion ment more to me than anything else. Above all, I wanted him to be proud of me as I was of him. As he put me above himself time and again, I wanted to do the same for him.

And to have that asshole come and question my sanity, when his own life was a skewered as it was.

It was nothing short of another breach of the front lines in the declaration of all-out war he'd started!!! Only this time he was prancing around on _my _terf.

I squinted in the dim, smoky club as I thought I heard somebody I knew over the too-loud techno music and cacophony that came from fitting too many people in a small space. I had struggle not to use too much of my enraged strength, as I pushed and twisted at awkward angles in order to get through the masses. The only other time I could recall ever seeing this many people in place recently, was that blow-out sale Alice had dragged me to. Even that couldn't really compare to the tightly packed people jostling for better spots. Never in my life had I gotten or given so many elbows to the chest or had to literally push someone's back just to get through.

I finally broke free of the crowd, very nearly stumbling as I collided with the first step to the DJ station. I regained my bearings and climbed the narrow stairs quickly, eager to get out of the chaos below and to where I could get my plan into motion.

The look on the guy's place was priceless as I told him what I wanted, and slipped him several thousand yen for his trouble for my unusual request. I helped myself to a microphone from a box in the back of the booth, one with a long cord, but had a manual battery operated button in the hand piece.

I got down into the bar area again and climbed onto it, much to the astonishment of the bartenders, but I ignored them.

More and more people started to notice me, and more importantly knew who I was. And they began to almost overwhelm the place. Until the music came on, obviously the DJ had passed on a message to the tech crew. Because some multicolored spotlights whipped from the unoccupied stage to my general direction, shining off my already sparkly skin bathing me in an almost ethereal light

I noticed a guy off to my left wearing a hat that looked like a Phantom of the Opera fedora. I settled my feet in their high heels a moment, and then, like lighting, I made a tremendous high kick, higher than I'm sure I'd ever made before. The sole of my foot flashed within a hair of his nose, and hit the brim of the fedora, knocking it entirely and cleanly off his head. High up into the air it soared, until it came to rest in my grasp where I promptly placed it on my own head.

The crowd went berserk! I said, I'd gotten rowdy at the Moulin Rouge, and I'd come away with a few sharp little cabaret tricks to prove it.

So, Edward didn't think I could handle myself in the real world. Well actions spoke louder than words, and he was going to get proof, up close and personal!!!

--

_There's only two types of people in the world,_

_The ones that entertain and those who observe._

_Well baby, I'm a put on a show kind of girl._

_Don't like the backseat, gotta be first._

--

_I'm like a ringleader, I call shots_

_I'm like a fire cracker,_

_I make it hot when I put on a show._

--

I know I said that being in a club is a sensory overload to an untrained or fledging vampire. That's very true. But the right combination, in the right circumstances can produce an effect that even the most addictive drug can't hope to produce.

--

_I feel the adrenaline moving through my veins_

_Spotlight on me and I'm ready to break_

_I'm like a performer; the dance floor is my stage._

_Better be ready, hope you feel the same._

_--_

And there under the hot lights, with the swell of the music and rhythm pulsing though my body, the truth of the words scorching themselves in my ears. Even the reek of human bodies, stale beer, runny perfume and cigarette smoke all added a unique combination that I could practically taste on my tongue. That only served to fuel my adrenaline rush higher as I sang.

--

_All eyes on me in the center of the ring just like a circus_

_When I crack that whip, everybody gon' trip just like a circus._

_Don't stand there watching me, follow me, show me what you can do._

_--_

I seemed to be outside my body observing myself enthrall the crowd, cracking the still attached though useless microphone cord like a whip over the crowd's heads every so often. Keeping it in sensuous motion, like the coils of a deadly serpent wound about my arm, poised to strike at any moment. Once it busted a large floresent light bulb raining a shower of sparks down like a starry rain, far from making anyone mad. They ate every bit of it up. As I shimmied and swayed, nimbly weaved in and out of grasping hands and grabby fingers with relative ease, making my way off the bar. Then across the dance floor, they followed heeding my Pied Piper song. Until finally, I made it to the stage, and a long stream of bouncers formed a living barrier between me and the flood that had followed.

--

_There's only two types of guys out there_

_One's that can hang with me and ones that are scared._

_So baby, you'd better come prepared_

_I run a tight ship, so beware!_

_--_

That part was you can bet was about Edward and Gackt, and I'll bet you know in what context too.

But I must have looked like the cat who not only chugged a gallon of cream, but 'liberated' the canary too. As I held hands with crying Lolita's, rocked on with strong Ko-gals, openly flirted with beautiful men and so much more.

And as the song's last stanza faded I found the same (now elated) guy in the crowd once again at my feet, while giving him a peck on the cheek in thanks. I caught the approving eye of my fiancée, unnoticed at the end of the crowd from the staircase. I knew for at fact that the answer was, absolutely nothing.

I literally had people at my feet and the world at my fingertips, and I'd done it all on my own.

What paltry thing could Edward offer me that could possibly compare to this ecstasy?

The looks of my family told me all I needed to know as well. The last strained images of the old Bella died and were laid to rest in their eyes as surely as the last notes of my song upon the ears of the masses at my feet.

Only Edward hung back, though all I had done had been for his benefit. I could see that still rebellious spark of fire in his smoldering eyes. As I looked into the crystal gaze of my beloved next to him, turned ice blue by colored contacts. But no less lovely, I blew him a kiss, which he playfully pretended to catch and planted upon his soft lips. I exited the stage knowing some things were definitely worth fighting for, and I was prepared to do so with every fiber of my heart, soul and everything.

* * *

**Notes:**

**Ok, Ko-Gal: Think Momo from 'Peach Girl'. They're girls who tan themselves to the point of being orange, bleach or dye their hair blonde and slather themselves with enough make-up that rivals laquered warpaint. It's a really popular fad in Japan in some areas, personally I don't understand it. But to each their own, and I'm not gonna judge.**

**Gaijin: It quite literally means outsider or foreigner. Its the usual name for Americans in Japan.**

**Tokyo Tower is a major radio tower and it looks like the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and just as much a tourist must see/landmark only its red and white and has a giant digital clock somewhere on it.**

**Electric City is real and I think its in Tokyo, anyway it's like the Japanese version of the Vegas Strip only its a little smaller and as far as I know, there's no casinos. It gets its name from all the electric signs and such that advertise in the area.**

**Now I know its not about Japan or even real for that matter, but I have to say it. "Portal to Hell". This is just a plot device that makes fun of Edward's insecurites about being a vampire and I'm sorry if it seems mean. But I can't resist poking fun at it sometimes.**

**Lolita: Comes in several different styles (Aristocrat, Sweet and Gothic, etc.) and many different brands it was said to have been invented by: Mana. I think it started while he was still in Malice Mizer.**

**Since 2007 Gackt has played the role of Kenshin Usaegi in a historical daytime drama, which I'm sorry I don't know the name for. But I can tell you the role was based on an actual leader of Japan who lived about 500 years ago. That's what Bella is making referance too.**

**The Elysian Fields: In Greek Myth that was the place where exclusively heroes went after they died, it was supposedly the most pleasant place in the underworld. Picture an endless meadow in summer, that is the best description I can give.**

**And lastly; I don't own it but I had to include it. The lyrics are Britney Spears new new song 'Circus' from the album of the same name. I couldn't help it, it was too perfect and had to include it.**


	8. Confrontation

**_Hi all! Long time no see, ain't it?! Almost a whole year, just a day shy, wow! I'm REALLLY BAD!!! Now I know you all probably wanna kill me, but I've been having lots of problems and work related stuff. Not to mention writer's block from HELL!!!! _**

**_Sorry about that, but I will try to update until I finish this story. As it is one of my favorites and I have a dream of finishing at least one on this site someday soon, LOL!!! Well anyway, I hope you enjoy this newest update...Which I must admit is rather long, even for me. But I hope you all enjoy it and indulge me with a review or two, because another dream of mine is to have at least 100 reviews on a story. Well enough with me and on with the fic._**

* * *

I looked down a long, empty hallway. No one was around, and at the moment it couldn't have been more perfect. So, in a nutshell, all the better for me. In all honesty, I didn't mean to storm off like a toddler in the midst of a tantrum. But I couldn't deal anymore with Alice's flaky, _Why's _and _What if's _right now. Upon wishing that Japan would experience one of it's famous world-shattering earthquakes and swallow me whole, instead was met with a familiar exit. Upon seeing that, I knew my unintentional prayers had been answered.

I ascended the concrete stairwell; the loud clop, clopping of my now regrettable shoe choice echoing like dinner-plate sized Clydesdale hooves in sensitive eardrums. On what I knew from past experience was one of the quickest routes to the roof. Which if a clever someone could play their cards right and access it, would be assured almost unlimited privacy. Something I craved desperately at the moment.

With far superior senses it was no challenge to pick the lock as I had done in not-so-distant times past, promptly pushing open the door, which lead to an enclosed rooftop. But still outside none-the-less, I wasn't picky at that point. And certainly not disappointed upon detecting no presence but my own amongst the playful wind and enclosing skyline (at least for the moment).

As I gazed into the far eastern horizon dotted sparingly here and there with small stars that were somehow plucky enough to manage to shine through not only the years of inevitable pollution from industrial progress. But also the day-like glare from some of the biggest electrical grids on the planet that at the same time were powerful enough to get complaints from the darkside of Pluto. They shone like a sea of multicolored stars in their own right. Whilst pondering upon these strange little idiosyncrasies of life in general, I happily mused about honeymoon destinations.

Morracco…maybe? I'd always loved the ethnic outdoor bazaars. Hawaii or Hong Kong, they tied in second. I was crazy about the both the friendly people and the great food...or there was always the possibility of going on that Victorian-style European "Grand Tour," Gackt had always wanted to do as a throwback to his Mizer days, decisions decisions...Hmmm.

Reaching into my jacket I rooted around in the inner pockets for a moment, my inner me gave a possessive little thrill when I finally pulled out my prize. Don't ask me why I started, but in my own defense I only do it when I'm really stressed out. Like now. I was about two soothing puffs into a Baha and actually feeling somewhat mellow with the world. When I was bombarded with agitation, anticipation, exhilaration....emotions from all directions. But all with two things in common.

One: they weren't mine.

And two: I wasn't alone anymore.

I hated it when he did that, like when he used to go sneaking around into my bedroom at all hours just to watch me sleep. It might have been in the name of love and in homage of eternal teenage hormones at the time. But had also secretly irked me royally no end, and was still breaking and entering no matter how you sliced it. Not to mention, it was seriously _creepy!_

Honestly, I never knew where life was going to take me. I just usually shut up and hung on for a wild ride. Now, I finally call the shots learning sometimes you have to get off take the bull by the horns and shake it up for all its worth. Apparently, even life can learn a lesson in rare cases.

I thought instantly of an old Islamic proverb I'd once heard years ago in a bustling market coffeehouse in Cairo, Egypt. _'When Mohammad won't go to the mountain, so the mountain shall come to Mohammad.' _

Edward however, looked at me surprise flitting across his pale features as he emerged from the shadows. I took another drag off my cigarette, casually flicked the ash onto the heads of the unfortunates below and said nothing,

"You smoke?" He asked in disbelief. "Why the he..." I held up a quick hand.

"Don't." I said wearily. "Spare me the Big Brother rhetoric. And if you start spitting out what the Government taught you over the last thirty years about "Big Tobacco" and how any other point of view is a "thought" crime. I _will_ hurt you because it's not like this will kill me anyway." I held up the smoldering white stick to emphasize my point.

Making out his somber countenance in the semi-darkness, a silhouette against the brightness of the pearl-like moon almost directly above us. It lit the small space up like mid-afternoon on a summer day. It would have been a perfect romantic backdrop when we were younger, now even though we were only a few feet apart. There seemed to be a chasm wider than the ocean that originally separated us along with the years. We gazed at each other, each studying the other thoughtfully trying to find the changes that the past twenty years had marked us with. Which was harder than it looked, because seeing as how we don't age you have to have clever eyes and a sharp mind to pick out anything. Both most and first changes are the obvious ones, taste in clothes, hair and such those I had in more spades than a Blackjack table in Monte Carlo.

Edward's soldering topaz eyes flickered wildly about like a candle flame caught in a backdraft, taking my image all in like a fine aged wine. Slowly up and down, once, twice and three times. As if he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing, even though he had always been good at keeping his emotions corked up in an emotional wine bottle. Much better than Jasper, I might add. It seemed that the last couple of decades hadn't been kind to him in that aspect. For the perfect impregnable fortress he'd built up around his inner self for the last century had cracked in places thus making him wear said emotions obviously, like a cheap flannel patch on a silk shirt.

And I could see it all blazing like a garish neon sign over his head, but still said nothing. If he wanted to know something, I wasn't going to volunteer the information. Let him ask for it.

That he did. He caught my curious golden gaze, looked at me straight in the eye and asked.

"_Why _Bella?"

The cigarette almost fell out of my mouth at that, I must have looked like an owl. All I really wanted to do was to smack something, hard. Namely him upside the head for trying to reinstate the Alice's Twenty Questions game. Or ultimately myself in the forehead in sheer frustration. Oh well, if fate had decreed that I wasn't going to get out of this. Then by all that was holy, the ball was going to stay in _my _court regardless.

Either way, I leaned back on the railing pinning him with a slightly sarcastic look trying to regain my dignity. "_Why_ is the sky blue?...._Why_ is the grass green?..._Why _can't you string a coherent sentence together? Come on Edward, you should know that solitary word covers alot of ground."

Edward seemed almost flabbergasted at my grumpy tone of voice, he seemed to think this situation was more serious than it was. And definitely reflected it back to me by what he said next.

"You are right there are a lot of "why" questions I'd like to ask pertaining to you. But right now I'll start with the one foremost on my mind. Why aren't you dead?"

I almost snorted at that, silently praying he hadn't any deeper leaves of his senses than what I currently saw. Instead, I responded lightly sarcastic.

"I am, in case you've missed the fact I haven't aged in two decades."

He ignored me and continued. "No, Alice had a vision of you commiting suicide." He seemed to spit out the word like it left a really foul aftertaste in his mouth. Probably did, most likely. "We saw you, going over a _**cliff!**_"

Suddenly reality dawned in the dark little corridors of my distant past, and unearthed a memory that I hadn't brought to light in literally over the twenty years mark I'd been a vampire. A single event that I guess you could say was truly the turning point to who I was now.

"You saw that, huh? I guess I shouldn't be surprised. As much as I love Alice, sometimes I really just wish I could just poke out that inner eye of hers with a hot poker and be done with it." I said sighing contemplatively, discarding the spent butt before I lit up another cigarette. Edward flashed me a disgusted look, from my smoking or the comment I wasn't sure. Either way, I ignored it.

"How could you say that? That 'gift' has saved your life several times in the past, or have you neglected to remember that?" He demanded, growling from the back of his throat, like he was trying to cage the rage in.

I cocked a perfectly plucked brow. "No, I haven't. But I have my reasons especially because it's usually aimed after me. If you want to know the answer to your first question, you'll have to take a few steps backward to what happened after you left me."

I saw him wince and back down a little at that statement. I tried to keep my grin as inconspicuous as possible - which was completely impossible - so I ended up smirking. But honestly, it wasn't ment to be a hurtful sentence, merely a statement of fact as I knew it.

Like I said, I have nothing against Alice personally, but sometimes I really _did_ wish that. Despite as much as it helps, I'm not sorry to say when it comes to me and my coveted _privacy. _I do wish it would just 'bugger off'! Because that stupid psychic radar of hers seems to be especially sensitive in that area. What with my past emotional connection both to Edward _and_ Alice's overall fondness for me right from the start that borders upon the downright _fanatical_.

It's a two-sided deal, in more ways than one. Alice is like a universal antenna, and Edward is the TV it's connected to. When she gets tuned into the right wavelength, so to speak he's the news anchor who relays it to the others while Alice recovers from getting drop-kicked back into reality AKA: Her Body. Which during that one time earlier this week was probably the one time in her long life really happened, courtesy of yours truly. I'm not sorry to say, though I try not to be vindictive, I totally enjoyed doing it. If it hadn't been for her, I'd still be sitting pretty, happy and free at the top of my little world. Not running all over hither and yonder trying to avoid a stupid game of 'Cat and Mouse' from my ex-boyfriend of all people.

Which in all times that I'd been mentally running through this little meeting in the last few years or so, I'd gone through many different scenarios. But none started out quite like this though, and I was only too happy to ablidge the new opportunity.

"You wanna know what happened. Fine, I'll spill. After that night, I wasn't the same." I stated through a thoughtful half-lidded gaze. "It was like a hole had been ripped in my chest, I didn't know how to live anymore. I spent the next _four_ months; yes count them F-O-U-R." I held up my fingers wiggling them to show my point, dramatically twirling my smoking stick like a laser pointer.

"In and out of the 'funny farm wing' of the hospital for tests part of the time, while the rest of time was spent in front of the window in a rocking chair ignoring my parent's assine attempts to get me to snap out of it. My drama teacher back in Arizona would have been proud, because I'll let you in on a little secret. They thought I was catatonic, please..." I rolled my eyes at the thought of it all. "I was _faking_ it."

Edward who up until that time seemed to be pained at this startling new information. Let out a surprised gasp, his eyes wide as his perfectly sculpted eyebrows shot clear to his bronze hairline. It was clear he didn't believe me. "You didn't?!"

I grinned, hands on hips in a defiant pose. "I did." I boasted gleefully, totally unabashed and delighted to finally have someone outside my inner circle be privy to one of my greatest secrets. At this point, I'd even settle for Edward indiscriminately. I shrugged. "Truthfully, I just wanted to be left alone. I needed time to think and everyone wasn't giving me my own air space."

My companion who was starting to weave a precarious mental moral web, I could see he really wanted to chew me out for doing that to my _poor _family and the townsfolk alike. When it was explained why I had done as I did, he seemed to accept it as much as he could. Despite his initial reluctance, he could sense it was the truth none the less. He was probably doing the "own space" thing in Alaska most likely, and knowing how Forks was. He couldn't condemn me for resorting to extremes against the people who could totally 'kill with kindness' in every sense of the word.

"You know," I continued honestly, lazily circling around Edward like a humanoid cat leaving airy, grey rings in my wake. "I played the twenty questions game in my head a lot back then. I looked back on _everything_ over and over in my mind; time and again I broke everything down, looked at it from every possible angle. Then would piece it back together again, sometimes I'd even break it again just to see if I'd thought I'd missed something. But in all that time, I was never able to find the one BIG elusive sixty-four thousand dollar question, that one tangible thing I could grasp in my hands, that could not only answer itself. But could also make everything else I couldn't get until that moment like a puzzle would magically fall into place, now that I had the piece."

"Finally I couldn't take it anymore. So one night when Ol' Charlie was performing the entire "One-Man Buzzsaw Symphony in D-minor, I might add. I slipped out of the house, got on the old logging trails behind the house and went up to the bluffs, I paid a visit to 'Mermaid's Peak.'" There I paused for effect taking a drag, and it got the intended result.

He stiffened once again. Then looked at me perfectly fish-style agape. I could just hear his thoughts screaming that this couldn't be happening. That my confession had to be some kind of a joke, only it wasn't. Mermaid's Peak wasn't anything to joke about, especially in Forks. Oh sure, in the daytime the view from the place was nothing short of spectacular and you could see for miles on a clear day. But the place had a more ominous reputation from the sailing ships that had once come up the coast in the days when Forks was still one of the premiere boom lumber towns. One of the tallest cliffs in the state, the choppy water combined with the chill wind that constantly blows in from the sea and across the jagged stones below. The result is a kind of eerie, humanlike moaning or melancholy sighing depending on who you're asking at the time.

According to legend, the voice belongs to a mermaid at least according to what Jacob told me. Who for centuries has been looking for her Indian lover, lost in some long-forgotten war against the white men when their sacred lands were invaded. Supposedly her grief was so great, and she cried so many salt tears into the sea her once warm heart became stone with the rest of her body soon following. Now aside from the occasional fetish Halloween dare, it's a place most associated with _suicides_. Female ones. The sounds combined with less oxygen being so far above sea-level creates a vertigo effect that can drive a soul already hounded by grief, or a heart broken with sorrow to sink further into madness. Then seek to end it all in one final breath of relief to live forever at the bottom of the sea cared for by her and a multitude of those poor souls who had literally gone before.

Ergo, Mermaid's Peak. Poetic way to go, huh?

I don't know if it's true or not, _I_ certainly didn't see her. But up there with nothing but my thoughts, and my vision blinded by hot tears. Honestly, I had felt something _pushing_ me back _making_ me want to live. Freaky, huh?

Perhaps, it _was_ her. Maybe it was her own will to live and persevere on in endless eternity, coupled with a reluctance to see a true kindred soul sacrifice herself for all the wrong reasons. After all, we were in somewhat of a same situation; both of us were heartbroken women. One immortal, her human mate slain by forces beyond her control. The other human, whose immortal lover had abandoned her out of some misguided sense of selfish chivalry. Whatever way you look at it, unlike the majority. I lived to tell my tale and truly lived to find the elusive true love for eternity. I mean first there was Edward, Jacob (in a weird way) and then finally Gackt.

In other words, if it truly was that elusive sea-maiden. I personally, I think she knew that I loved the idea of being in love with Edward and being 'with' him, rather than the actual 'in love' part even before I did. So maybe it was partly concern for my welfare mixed with a revenge/justice thing against the male species in general.

I kept my head on in more ways than one and learned to differentiate between the BS of that first bout of hormonal puppy love everyone gets at least once in their lives. From the real 'can't-eat-can't-sleep-reach-for-the-stars-over-the-fence-world-series-kinda-thing,' as my godson once so charmingly put it. While I wouldn't put it in so many words, I guess you could say it describes the basics of where I'm coming from. Because I learned the real meaning of, "Third times the charm."

Then without warning, I bounded away from Edward up onto the railing throwing my arms out wide. Like Rose did in that classic scene in Titanic, when she was pretending she could fly on the ship's bow. Only I chose to welcome a few friendly air spirits that only I could see and hear (One of my other neat little 'abilites', but I'll get into further detail later, promise.), they blew up from the street and about me combing their reed-thin fingers though my hair, tracing arcane patterns on my pale skin. They chattered on and on happily about all the things they'd seen and done since when we'd last met. I almost laughed euphorically, only it was quickly over as soon as it started when Edward made a high-pitched squeaky sound like he'd sucked in half a tank of helium.

"Stay where you are." I commanded, without looking, simply feeling him comply with total obedience. I felt his muscles and body go totally slack once again from where he had crouched trying to 'protect' me from myself apparently, he made a sound of intense protest. But unlike earlier, this time I didn't want him moving (including his mouth) unless it was for my own reasons. "Sorry Edward, for the moment I'd just like you to sit quietly and listen, m'kay?!"

I sent my little friends off with a silent promise to play at a later time. That was one thing I completely loved about Japan. The spirits were as polite and even more numerous as the people, and in any event defiantely more than understanding. I looked back only Edward's eyes were able to move and they conveyed, well let's just say, contrary to his feelings for me, I wasn't the most popular person in them at the moment.

"As I was saying," I continued in a low octave that somehow managed to sound mysterious. "I almost got up to the very top of the Peak, I just stared out into nothing for I don't know how long literally staring down the Grim Reaper in the eye. Up there, I realised something aside from the fact I wanted to live. Simply because I'd never really lived in the first place." Looking back I saw a question forming in Edward's eyes, you didn't have to be Einstien to figure it out. If I hadn't jumped, how did Alice see me falling over the cliff. That was answered easily enough, though I was kind of embarassed to admit it.

"I tripped." I replied simply, coloring a bit at the cheeks. My hold over him loosening just a smidge enough momentarily to allow him to contort a few muscles and make a face of complete disbelief.

"Weither you believe it or not, it's all true." I bit back incrediously, jabbing an accusing finger into a perfect nose. Before crossing my arms defiantly. "I didn't have night vision back then, and you try getting around in the dense backwoods toting a crappy army surplus flashlight with a battery pack the size of a trash can coupled with the weight of a anvil. When I decided to go back, I had turned it off then ended up forgetting where I'd put it. I backtracked somehow ended up behind it, then I tripped over it and I landed in a sinkhole that turned out to be an old firepit. In other words, I fell in the _direction of _the cliff. If you were standing at an angle behind me in the vision, it would have created an optical illusion that made you think, I'd gone over. If you still don't believe me, ask yourself this. How could I still be in one piece if, I had done that. Because you know as well as I, they'd have never found a body. Not without a miracle anyway."

Feeling that I had finally made my point, I let Edward loose. He sagged for a moment as he once again got used to the feeling of having his muscles really be under his own power again. He flexed a few times and got his body back in order.

"Thanks." He muttered darkly, dusting off his sleeve. I just nodded in passing.

"Bella?" He piped up, yet again.

"Yeah." I replied.

"I hope you have some good answers." He said gently.

"For what?" I asked curiously, meeting his eye.

"Well, now that I have my voice back I have some terrific questions." He looked me square in the eye, deadly serious. All the tension between us hung thick in the air holding its breath waiting for him to speak his mind.

"Why are you doing this?" He demanded harshly. "To all of us…to me? (That made me inwardly cringe at the high opinion he still considered himself to be in.)You're a stranger in an even stranger land…"

I cut him off, I couldn't resist teasing him. "Is this all because you couldn't eat with chopsticks this afternoon? Because all you have to do is read the package and hold them like so…" I demonstrated with my cigarette.

"Be serious for once!" He snapped. That got my undivided attention, not many people had the guts to talk to me like that. "What could that guy possibly offer you that you'd follow him and risk being found out for what you are in a strange country?"

Of all the assine questions to ask, Edward had probably asked me what he thought was the hardest to answer. When for me it was in fact, the easiest. So I figured it was easier to let my actions speak louder than my words and let my fingers do just that. That and wanting to broaden Edward's narrow field of vision I pointed over the railing and off into the chaotic night.

He followed my finger then again made the sound like he'd sucked in the other half of that helium tank. I wondered in passing if he'd ultimately try to blame it on a frog in his throat. I watched intently, as he stiffened like a board and a collective mix of emotions washed over his face, struggling as if to make a decision upon just one.

For there lighting up the Ginza Skyline on a no less than a ten story high billboard, was an advertisement for a new movie a small spin-off of a popular daytime drama set to premiere in a few short days. The two main characters were the historical Samuari Usegi Kenshin and the Goddess Shirahime-Soryo, otherwise known in her much-beloved fairytale, The Shining Princess. Which was what her full name translated as and was also the name of the movie, a re-written more in-depth spin on an old classic you could say.

When in an attempt to give a boost to flagging daytime T.V. ratings, it was suggested that one or more of their more popular shows have a little bit of a "western" feel to it. I honestly don't know why it was decided to punt a 'gods vs. humans' angle on it. But the live-action historical drama that Gackt has played in for a while now that had an anime based on it was selected for the inital test run (or be a guiena-pig depending on whom you ask).

Somehow, I got pushed to the forefront of the auditionees. I didn't really want to go, but Gackt and Hyde dragged me to it anyway so there was no time to put on any proper make-up at home that day. It ended up being a semi-dress occasion on an actual Shinto temple being used for a set. I think that the costume girls and make-up artists (unlike the other girls) just dressed me up to the hilt as they did as a joke or maybe minor professional revenge. (A lot of people, female and male, are still a little miffed that Gackt's off the market now.)

Either way, despite the natural cat/ballet grace all vampires seem to be blessed with I nearly fell flat on my face coming out of the trailer they stuck me in. From the twelve layered kimono, to the veiled headdress, even the make up on my face combined felt like they weighed eight hundred pounds.

Despite a few hang-ups, and I mean that in every possible way, shape and form because of that damn costume getting into the place (and up a few stairs to boot, ugh!). And no outside help whatsoever!!! The time-honored excercise monologue, No pain, no gain worked in my favor.

Because our personal chemistry was as apparent onscreen as it was off, even more so actually if one knows how to milk the recording equipment. The scene that was filmed was emotionally charged (both scripted and not) when Kenshin/Gackt is despondent and abandoned by both man and the vast pantheon of Shinto deities, except one.

Me.

In short, Usegi Kenshin got a patron deity, and I got my first regular spot on Japanese daytime TV. How's that for a single day's work?

A larger than life "couple's pose" of Gackt and myself in a desperate embrace stared right back almost defiantly to Edward and I on Portal to Hell's roof a few blocks over.

Which despite being a so-called "gaijin," aside of my singing/modeling career it had been only the latest in a string of Japanese movies and Asian television apparences. I had proved to be immensely popular in all levels of conservative Japanese society, also being one of the few I had actually done with my fiancee. The international network of TV stations and broadcasters, I had on good authority were happily spinning a new angle on it's debut due to our engagement. As well as a possible promotional tour for a DVD, if it proved to be as popular as they were expecting it to be.

"If we fight, we fight together. If fate decrees, let us die in each other's arms. I swear to never leave your side even after my final breath." I recited dramatically from memory, knowing I was violating at least a dozen studio copyright and secrecy policies in the process.

"And what the hell does that mean?" Edward demanded seemingly catching my double-indenture.

He went from green eyed to red faced, now his clenched knuckles and jaw were turning ash white. I didn't know vampires could turn so many colors. Hmmm....you learn something new everyday.

"It's your answer, filed under the List of: Things You Never Did." I pointed out. "Number one being: Even when I gave you every reason in the world, even risking my own life to do so. You still never trusted me, and never would have. Simply, because I was human. Gackt does. In fact, our situations were reversed. I was the vampire and he was the human!"

"I'm a predator!" Edward growled in reply, "I had to literally fight myself in between feelings of wanting to both kiss you and kill you! You cannot blame me for something that was my natural instinct, in the first place. In fact, I doubt you even could have handled the sheer ferocity of it alone."

"Oh ye of little faith." I complained lightly.

Edward once again confirming that my overall decision to leave the United States and head for Japan with my fiancée, was definitely the correct one. He had so little faith in me even when I was human, but to think that I, now a vampire like he. Would come back to him with nary a thought to the life I had made for myself here in Japan and all the blood sweat and tears, metaphorically speaking I had shed in doing so for two decades. He was so sorely mistaken!

"In fact, honestly Bella… Even to this day there has not been even one moment that is gone by that I haven't cursed the fact that I let you go." Edwards replied quietly.

Now was my turn to be knocked flat on my ass, I didn't know whether to be astonished or disgusted. Because I couldn't believe what I had heard and thought Edward had said, maybe I heard it wrong. But one look told at all…

**Oh yes he had!**

"You're already on Gackt's "shit-list," and I don't think you want to kiss your own ass when he turns you inside out." I cut him off, in a tone that was still light and friendly, but had an edge that completely dubbed the statement "non-negotiable."

"You don't seem to be aware he's legendary? One with a _horrible _temper, and an even _worse _protective streak! One that makes you look like a kitten batting at a tiger."

I growled at him, waving my cigarette around like a lethal weapon. Dammit! I swear that that this guy lives in his own little world of delusion. But either way my outburst seemed to have quieted Edward for a time, like he didn't know quite what to make of my newfound confidence

I nodded in contemplation and remained silent for a while longer. Edward's voice was still hesitant when he broke the silence again; he came closer to me and I could faintly smell his unique scent under all the nighttime smells. His pale lips came closer to mine and suddenly it was as if he was trying to do a lame impression of a medieval troubadour. I realized he was trying to turn my own tactics against me, cute! But it was going to take a lot more than that to ruffle my feathers.

"Before you, my life was a moonless night. Very dark, but there were still stars. The point of light and reason and then you shot across my sky like a meteor. Suddenly everything was on fire; there was brilliancy, there was beauty. When you were gone, when the meteor had fallen over the horizon, everything was black. Nothing had changed, but my eyes were blinded by the light. I couldn't see the stars anymore. And there was no reason for anything."

The words themselves were ment to be reassuring, but the way they were said was a whole different story altogether. Actually it sounded like if he were reciting words from a trashy supermarket romance novel.

The end of my last nerve was wearing thin, Edward wasn't a good enough actor to give _me_ the run-around.

In that instant with the utterance of a few choice phrases, I'd been kicked right back to square one. I groaned, my shoulders slumping to ultimately clunk my forehead on the railing or puke over it. I was still debating, it was too disgusting to think about. And I wasn't trying to be mean, nobody but me seemed to realize.

He was still a little boy in many ways, inexperienced, hesitant to follow his heart, and endearingly gentle as if he might break me. I had long-ago realized when I had sat back and really picked apart what I knew about his character, despite the pedestal I had placed him upon. There was still very much that he didn't know about the world, though he had walked in it's miry depths since his rebirth. Life was simple for him; he was merely content with the hand he'd been dealt, only took as much as he needed, which while noble sounding was pitifully little. Pardon the bad pun, but he didn't know how to 'live'. After all this time, he could still not understand that I am _not _the same.

I have emotions, feelings and urges. For example, though I don't need human food to survive. I adore getting large Mocha McCafes at McDonalds, with whole milk, with _both _extrawhip cream _and _chocolate topping whenever I can. I love Volks dolls from Tenshi no Sato and buying any and all accessories I can lay my hands on. I sometimes literally whine at waiting in the midst of rush hour traffic to anyone who is unfortunately stuck in the same cramped space with me at the time. I often do _naughty _things in weirder places when Gackt looks at me, "that way". (I won't elaborate further, but I'm sure that needs nothing further in explaination.)

All in all, I have and do currently love my celebrity life on this "tiny island nation" as the Japanese endearlingly call this beautiful land, while that might seem very selfish to some to have in general in the first place. But hey, don't we all have them, nobody's that high-and-mighty underneath the underneath. The only real differance is that I _choose_ to either aknowledge or disgard them according to both my moral values, feelings of others and momentary desires of a given situtation.

Yes, I'll be the first to admit. The world was and is a _majorly _crappy place and the life you have therein isn't necessarily garunteed to be fair. However, what people like Edward usually tend to forget that itty-bitty little thing that's been the cause of every war, battle or skermish baught and paid for in blood since the dawn of time called, free will.

A thing so small, but packed with so much _potentional_ for good or ill depending on how it's used.

As simple as blowing out candles on a birthday cake, the gaily wrapped present you recieve afterward. And inside...Surprise! You get a _**choice! **_On anything and everything you could ever want! In other words, you can sit around for eternity and whine about how the world is out to get you and one's supposed inner beast_....cough!..._Edward!..._cough! _Or you can get off your inflated duff and actually work to go about changing your circumstances.

I thought of how he must be thinking of how Gackt had supposedly 'ruined' me. Ha! I was not going to be any part of this pity party, he could wander his complicated world of bitter dreams with a hardened heart, alone!

If any other man had spoken to me like Edward did, they'd have been force-fed a knuckle sandwich that not only would have broken teeth but several feet of concrete and steel behind them. Yet my temper gave Gackt a free pass everytime, only increasing my frustration with him sometimes. I could never be angry at him for long. It was a terrible weakness on my part. When I did lash out at him, it was always playful. Really hurting him was impossible for me to do another terrible weakness on my part. But a pleasurable one, none the less.

However, Gackt respected me both first as a woman and_ then _as a vampire, honoring my observations, ideas, opinions and advice alike when I freely gave or he asked for them. Weither he agreed with them or not. In other words, encouraging me to be myself. Unlike Edward, who was still clinging to a shadow of my submissive former self that didn't exist anymore. He'd argue till his pasty skin was blue in the face trying to convince me that 'he' was right. I almost rolled my eyes at that. Typical.

Once I was directly in front of him, Edward froze a bit when he saw the expression on my face and that I knew that I was postively ashen, even for a vamp.

"Bella?!" He asked, with great concern and tried to put his hands upon my face. Where I could clearly see him discreetly trying to go manipulating me into position to plant a 'sweet one' on the lips, just like he used to when I was human.

The split second I realised that. Any kind of pity, sympathy, or any other positive emotion that was still reserved for Edward Anthony Cullen vanished from my mind like a wisp of candle smoke in the wind. I saw only a foolish romantic dreamer, a fop, if you will. One that had walked into the gaping jaws of danger and had done so needlessly. Couldn't he take a hint? Answer: _Obviously not_. And I wasn't in a forgiving mood.

I could tell he wanted to say something more, but his eyes suddenly lost focus and he went flying, ass over teakettle into a stupor onto the pavement. From my now higher position over his prone form, my fist still clenched. I had delivered one nasty right hook to the area of the head, no where near what I was actually capable of, mind you. However it was just enough that he'd be feeling the sting of his _transgression_ tomarrow morning, and several thereafter if I was lucky.

This was the second time in the span of a few days, it was questionable weither he would suffer brain damage. Then again, there was probably no greater damage to make than the one already genetically present.

I could see that now he wasn't as passive as before. The large purple welt the size of a half-grapefruit in the shape of my knuckles upon his temple spoke volumes of just how effectively I'd rung his bell. Eyes spoke leagues for him - I could see a clearly noticable amount of anxiety, surprise and..._fear_.

"What don't you get, Edward?!" I growled. "How many times in how many ways do I have to explain this to what's left of your feeble brain? I. Don't. Want. You. Anymore."

"I didn't want to say this to you because I still considered you as family, but no more. When you left me, I was hurt but I eventually got over it a long, long, _long_ time ago. And when I saw you again, I actually wanted to Thank you for leaving me. Because it made me realize I needed to grow up. Honestly, people live, they learn, they _move on!_ And you need to seriously reread the memo."

One of the few practical pieces of advice that Renee had ever given me was this. _"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and sometimes it is nessecery to give a stupid or misinformed beholder. A black eye."_

Not exactly subtle mind you, but she did have a point. Though I don't know that Edward techinally qualified as one of those kind of peoplein my book, me either to tell the truth. However sometimes you had to take what you can get within the circumstances.

And it is most definitely, tried and true. However what was Edward expecting me to say? That I would run and embrace him with open arms...say "I love you," and "all is forgiven." Please! That was nothing more than a demented fantasy begging in agony to be reality, he was still in the mode that life was one big doom-and-gloom bittersweet musical. Where at the end we'd bury our problems, shake the whole thing off, and go riding off into the sunset back to America, hand in hand like some cheezy Clint Eastwood film of Charlie's. If I cooperated that is. Which he seemed to have no doubt that I would, like a tame little lap dog on a leash, with him holding the chain the whole way.

Well the Pied Piper had another thing coming, I knew music. Long honed from a quiet world of solitude and creativity surrounding me. He might sing the pretty tune of a spoiled child, but there was no way I'd dance to it. Again, I say I'd gotten over licking my shallow emotional flesh wounds a long, long time ago.

There is an Oscar Wilde quote about looking on with a heart of stone upon the one which you loved in your youth, espacially at the hair you madly worshipped and wildly kissed. Quote, unquote.

I was living that this moment!

It was to be expected, after the end of the end of the world, only twinkies, cockroaches (Gackt's arch-nemesis) and _fops _would survive. I'm absolutely positive that it's going to be a biological fact.

Finally giving him one last look that wished him another (only this time around much more painful) death, I turned heel and stalked back into the club.

* * *

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